Davis funeral may be held Wednesday

Army, family begin making plans for services, but nothing is official.

A funeral service could be held as early as Wednesday for an Army sergeant from Jackson who was killed Thursday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

But a Jackson funeral home says the details still have to be worked out.

The death of Sgt. Robert G. Davis, 23, has devastated family members in Jackson who want to keep their grief private.

"The family doesn't want a circus made out of this," said Mike Cracraft, who operates Cracraft-Miller Funeral home in Jackson. "They have already told me they don't want any cameras inside the funeral home."

Cracraft said Davis' wife, Amanda, buried her grandmother Friday and now must deal with another funeral.

"The family was just overwhelmed," he said.

Besides his wife, Davis leaves behind a son, Brayden Noah Davis, who was born on April 28 at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.

The local Red Cross is offering grief counseling to the family, something that it regularly provides to families who have lost loved ones in combat.

Cracraft said a uniformed officer came to the family's house in Jackson on Thursday afternoon. The family decided to go ahead with visitation for the grandmother, Alta Olivia Priest, 75, of Jackson, who died Tuesday.

Cracraft said the family originally was told it could take a week to 10 days before Davis' body would arrive back in Jackson. But now it appears the body could be returned by Monday, he said.

"The family doesn't want to drag it out," Cracraft said.

Davis' body first will be flown to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany and then flown to the Dover, Del., Air Force Base.

The base is home to the Department of Defense's only stateside mortuary.

When Davis' body arrives at Dover, it will be greeted by an officer and a complete honor guard.

"It is the least we can do to show our gratitude for their sacrifice," said Army spokesman Robert Melhorn in Washington, D.C.

At Fort Lewis, Wash., the news of Davis' death marked another tragedy in a week that saw three of its soldiers killed in the war on terror. Two died in Afghanistan and another in Iraq.

Davis was a member of the 864th Engineer Battalion that was in Afghanistan to help complete a new highway through mountainous terrain.

A memorial service is expected to be held this week at Fort Lewis for the three fallen soldiers. No details for the service have been finalized, officials said.

"Everybody at Fort Lewis feels the pain any time we lose a solider in combat or by accident," said fort spokesman Joe Hitt. "The Army is just like a big family."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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