As military service members carried the flag-draped coffin out of a football stadium, the sounds of bagpipes echoed and people saluted Chris Kyle, an ex-Navy Seal sniper who wrote a best-selling book called America's Sniper and dedicated his post-military career to helping other veterans.
Iraq War veteran Eddie Ray Routh, 25, has been charged in the February 2 killings of Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield at a Texas gun range. Routh is being held on US$3 million bond.
Nearly 7,000 people attended the service, including former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and her husband. Dozens of military personnel and others were seated in front of the podium near the Dallas Cowboys’ star at midfield, where Kyle’s coffin was placed at the beginning.
Widow Taya Kyle spoke through tears earlier, surrounded by her husband’s military friends, her voice trembling as she described to a crowd of thousands what “my slow-talking Texas man” had meant to his family, friends and country.
“Chris, there isn’t enough time to tell you everything you mean to me and everything you taught me,” the widow said Monday during a two-hour memorial service for Kyle, a decorated sniper and best-selling author who was slain earlier this month at a gun range.
She described herself as broken but said the family will “put one foot in front of the other” to get through their grief. She told her two children that they will remember Kyle’s silly side, Texas twang and prayers they prayed together.
