HUBER HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) – A soldier killed in Afghanistan along with two members of his platoon understood the dangers of military service, a Marine friend said at the funeral for Army Pfc. James “J.P.” White Jr.

“I know J.P. knew the risks. We all do and we accept them,” Marine Reserve Lance Cpl. Ryan Pennington said Monday at St. Peter Catholic Church.

The 19-year-old White, from this Dayton suburb, was killed in an Aug. 11 attack in northeastern Afghanistan, where he’d been stationed for five months.

“J.P. gave his life doing what he believed in,” Pastor Darryl Perry of Trydestone Baptist Church in Springfield said in the eulogy.

Pennington reminisced about going through four years of ROTC with White, a 2005 graduate of Wayne High School, and how they teased each other about who enlisted in the better branch of the military.

White was buried at Dayton National Cemetery, where his parents received their son’s Bronze Star.

Killed along with White were Army Spc. Rogelio R. Garza Jr., 26, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Pfc. Andrew R. Small, 19, of Wicasset, Maine. The soldiers were members of the First Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, Third Brigade Combat Team, of the 10th Mountain Division based at Fort Drum, N.Y.



Information from: Dayton Daily News, http://www.daytondailynews.com



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