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The Image Air hangar was filled to capacity as family, friends, associates and soldiers attended a memorial service for the late Michael Todd Fiscus of Milford.
An Image Air charter pilot as a civilian, Fiscus, 36, was one of four 76th Infantry Brigade National Guard members killed March 26 when a land mine exploded under their vehicle south of Kabul, Afghanistan.
The 16-year National Guardsman received full military funeral honors including the posthumous awards and honors presented to Fiscus' widow, Paula: a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, as ordered by President George Bush, and a promotion from captain to major, as ordered by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.
Paula Fiscus shared the medals with daughters Alexandria, 5, and Gabrielle, 4.
A host of mourners arrived from Calvary United Methodist Church in Syracuse, where the funeral was held.
The two-mile-long funeral procession passed through Syracuse and Milford, where citizens lined the streets, eyes following the Mishler Eastlund hearse making its way south to the Warsaw Municipal Airport and the charter company's hangar off CR 350N.
The Indiana National Guard's Ceremonial Unit provided a military casket team and honor guard. The U.S. flag shrouding the casket was presented to Paula Fiscus by Adjutant General of the Indiana National Guard R. Martin Umbarger. Umbarger also presented flags to Fiscus' mother, Sharon M. Smith of Vincennes, and his father, James Michael Fiscus of Plainfield, who also is an officer with the Indiana National Guard.
"Taps" was played, a 21-gun salute was fired and pilots from Image Air and Explorer Van flew over in the missing man formation through blue, cloudless skies.
Both Daniels and Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman attended the memorial service along with other dignitaries and military leaders.
The governor and Umbarger attended services for Spc. Norman K. Snyder in Sullivan and will travel to Bluffton to attend the funeral of Master Sgt. Michael T. Heiser Wednesday.
A fourth soldier, Sgt. Brett Hersey, was laid to rest in State College, Pa., Sunday.
Members of the 76th Infantry Brigade in Afghanistan were part of the Coalition Joint Task Force Phoenix III, which assists the Afghan Army and builds schools, hospitals and infrastructure in the Asian country held by U.S. troops since October 2001.
Fiscus and his fellow soldiers were called to active duty in April 2004. He would have returned home in July.
