The Emporia Gazette

February 13, 2012

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READING — For a man of few words, Sgt. Michael Lee Chenoweth was laid to rest Tuesday morning with tributes from military, a former commander in the Iraq war and poems by his family and girlfriend.

A commander from Chenoweth’s first tour of duty in Iraq recalled his soldiers saying after they had been warned of kidnapping threats along convoy routes that they would’ve liked to see insurgents try and take down the strong yet silent Chenoweth.

It drew an audible sigh of laughter from grieving family and friends during the graveside service in Reading Cemetery with full military honors. He was buried next to his parents, Melvin L. and Linda F. Richardson Chenoweth.

On a two-week leave from his second deployment to Iraq as a member of Charlie Battery, 2nd Battalion of Arkansas’ 142nd Fires Brigade, Chenoweth, just 29, drowned in a boating accident while fishing the night of Aug. 27 near Centerville, Ark.

Chenoweth and a cousin were in a 12-foot, flat-bottomed boat when it capsized after one of the men shifted the weight in the boat to one side, according to Yell County Sheriff’s deputies. The cousin, who was fishing in the boat’s bow, swam to safety. Chenoweth was in the back of the boat.

Yet, that Chenoweth had died doing something he loved was a comfort to his family, said Chaplain Wesley Hilliard during the memorial service. Photos of a batch of catfish, a deer kill and family members, one taken just days before his death, graced Chenoweth’s funeral program. His obituary was published in Friday’s Gazette.

Chenoweth enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1996 as a submariner and joined the Arkansas Army National Guard in 2003 as a cannoneer in Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 206th Field Artillery. At the time of his death he served as a truck commander, performing convoy security escort missions throughout Iraq.

A contingent of Patriot Guard members, at the invitation of Chenoweth’s family, were on hand to protect the service from the campaign at military funerals by Fred Phelps and members of Topeka’s Westboro Baptist Church, who say soldiers’ deaths are God’s punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality. About a half-dozen protesters showed up at Chenoweth’s service, but were kept at a distance.

1st Sgt. Johnny Crafton of Morrilton, Ark., served with Chenoweth on their first deployment to Iraq when they were rifleman in Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 153rd Infantry. He accompanied Chenoweth’s body to his native Kansas.

Crafton said their unit had frequently battled insurgents in Iraq. He remarked on the irony of surviving explosive devices and machine-gun fire, only to die while fishing in the safety of Northwest Arkansas.

“We all come to realize over there that when it’s your time, it’s your time,” Crafton said. “When you have an appointment with God, you’re going to keep it.”