The Rev. Mark Mendes knew
Benjamin Sherman as a mischievous boy who
could melt you with a look, especially if he
was in trouble.
But
beneath the mischief it all was kindness,
love and loyalty that grew with the boy into
honor, courage and respect. Mendes had no
trouble picturing Sherman sacrificing his
life to help a struggling comrade in
Afghanistan.
Sherman had the faith to
stick-up for the underdog, to try to make
the world a better place and to jump into a
raging river to help a fellow solider,
Sherman’s former minister recalled.
“You could see the love he
had for the people around him,” Mendes told
an overflow crowd attending the U.S. Army
sergeant’s funeral Friday at Second Church
of Plymouth in Manomet. “Ben rushed toward
life. He took on life’s dangers.”
Hundreds paid tribute to
the fallen paratrooper, holding American
flags and waiting more than an hour in the
driving rain for Sherman’s flag-draped
casket to pass in a horse-drawn caisson.
More than 200 mourners,
including Gov. Deval Patrick, Senate
President Therese Murray and Selectman
Richard Quintal, crowded into Second Church
for the service. Hundreds more watched on
monitors in the church basement and listened
to speakers from the church grounds.
Sherman, a 21-year-old
Manomet resident and 2006 graduate of
Plymouth South High School, died earlier
this month after diving into a river in
western Afghanistan to help a struggling
comrade. Both paratroopers were swept
downstream. The other solider, Sgt. Brandon
Islip, has not been found.
Sherman’s family called on
mourners to pray for Brandon’s safe return
and remembered their own sergeant as a
fun-loving son and husband, a practical
joker who embraced life.
“Ben always had a way of
making people feel good about themselves,”
his wife, Patricia Sherman, who is expecting
the couple’s first child in March, said as
she fought back tears. If Sherman could
attend his own funeral, she said, he’d
probably raise a toast, because he felt
those who serve deserve to party.
Denise Sherman, Ben’s
mother, said her son could be a teddy bear,
but he stood up for what he believed in. “He
built bridges not fences. He said walk to
the edge and do not be afraid,” she said.
Army officials
posthumously promoted Sherman to sergeant.
He was also awarded two service medals and
the Bronze Star.
A military honor guard
fired three volleys as Sherman was laid to
rest in the family plot behind the church.
In closing the church service, the Rev.
Judith Medeiros called on mourners to
remember Sherman’s personal credo.
“Walk to the edge, listen
hard, practice wellness, play with abandon,
continue to learn, appreciate your friends,
choose with no regrets, do what you love and
live as if this is all there is,” Medeiros
said.
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