Heidi Duty Sims, holding her 10-month-old son, Colin, placed two roses on the coffin of her husband, Capt. Sean Sims, at the city cemetery in College Station as it rained Monday afternoon.
Sims, Class of 1994, was serving in Iraq and was shot in the head and died when clearing a building in Fallujah on Nov. 12.
“(I am) very sad on the loss of my son, and very proud of my son,” said father, Sean Sims Sr., 63, a retired soldier, who spent most of his career traveling Asian countries for military services. “He was a good soldier. He died a glorious death. It is a great sacrifice. A sacrifice to me, a sacrifice to my country, and a sacrifice to everybody here. While I regret losing him, I am very proud of his sacrifice.”
About 500 people attended Sims’ funeral at St. Mary’s Catholic Center Monday before the burial.
“Our hearts are broken. It has been extremely hard, but at least he left a beautiful son,” said Patsy Duty, Sims’ mother-in-law.
About 50 of Sims’ childhood friends attended the funeral,
“Sean was an outstanding soccer player, and it was his second love. His first love was being a soldier,” said Eric M. Feeney, a manager of Medicine Sells in Washington, and a longtime friend of Sims. “Sean was a super friend. He was extremely loyal, and you could always count on him. He did everything by action, not just talking. We were drawn to him.”
Capt. Jon Drake, another friend of Sims who has been serving in Germany, escorted Sims’ body to College Station from Iraq at the request of Sims’ family.
“He (was) too young to die,” Drake said.
Gen. B.G. Bivens, chief of staff of army representatives, presented flags to Sims’ parents and widow at the burial.
Bivens said he came to College Station to share the family’s sorrow and to show communities how appreciated the army is for the sacrifice that the communities have made. Since the death of Sims, a military casualty assistance officer has been helping Sims’ family and will continue the aid as long as it is needed, Bivens said.