A procession for U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance, a soldier from the South Side who was killed in Afghanistan, travels down Central Avenue near Midway Airport, Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2019.
Megan Nagorzanski/Sun-Times
John De Lozier stood silently at the roadside as the blue, red and white car lights flashed in the hot midday sun.
And when the hearse passed — somewhere in the middle of Friday’s police escort — De Lozier raised his hand to his heart.
The 70-year-old came to 56th Street and Central Avenue near Midway Airport to pay his respects to U.S. Army Spc. Michael Isaiah Nance, a 24-year-old South Side native who died last month in Afghanistan — just three weeks into his first overseas tour.
Nance and 20-year-old Pfc. Brandon Jay Kreischer of Stryker, Ohio, died July 29 of wounds sustained in a combat-related incident in Tarin Kowt, in southern Afghanistan.
U.S. officials have saidtwo paratroopers were killed when an Afghan soldier opened fire on them at a military camp in the Uruzgan Province. The attacker was wounded and taken into custody.
Nance and Kreischer were assigned to the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Visitation for Nance will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday at the Leak & Sons Funeral Homes Country Club Hills location at 18400 S. Pulaski Road. A wake followed by services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Trinity United Church of Christ, 400 W. 95th St.
In addition to honoring Nance, De Lozier also came to view the hearse because of the wounds that have never quite healed — not from the scraps of shrapnel that sometimes wriggle to the surface of his skin. De Lozier’s mind drifts back to the Vietnam War, when he and many others like him had no welcome home at all.
“It was a different time then,” he said quietly. “You don’t hold a grudge, but that’s why we come out to see these young kids who go over there — the ones that paid the price.”
Vietnam War veteran John De Lozier poses for a portrait after watching the procession for U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance, a soldier from the South Side who was killed in Afghanistan, Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2019.
De Lozier, a retired AT&T employee, was one of three dozen or so who watched Nance’s casket pass by. Children waved American flags, shyly repeating the words their mothers had told them to say if asked why they had come. Two Chicago Fire Department ladders formed an arch over the roadway — with an American flag draped in the middle.
De Lozier said he’s been to Midway Airport twice, including Friday, to see returning servicemen and O’Hare Airport twice too. And he’ll be there, he said, the next time a soldier comes home.
Contributing: AP
U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance|Provided
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A charter plane carrying the remains of U.S. Army Sgt. Army Spc. Michael I. Nance arrives at Midway Airport in Chicago on Friday, Aug. 9, 2019. Spc. Nance who was from Chicago, Illinois was killed by an apparent insider attack by an Afghan army soldier while participating in Operation Freedoms Sentinel in Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan.|Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/Pool
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Shawn Gregoire, center, mother of Sgt. Army Spc. Michael I. Nance and close family get emotional as a U.S. Army carry team moves the transfer case containing the remains of U.S. Army Sgt. Army Spc. Michael I. Nance, during a dignified transfer at Midway Airport in Chicago on Friday, Aug. 9, 2019. Spc. Nance who was from Chicago, Illinois was killed by an apparent insider attack by an Afghan army soldier while participating in Operation Freedoms Sentinel in Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan.|Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/Pool
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A procession for U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance, a soldier from the South Side who was killed in Afghanistan, travels down Central Avenue near Midway Airport, Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2019.|Megan Nagorzanski/Sun-Times
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Chicago Fire Department personnel salute U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance, a soldier from the South Side who was killed in Afghanistan, as his procession travels down Central Avenue near Midway Airport, Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2019.|Megan Nagorzanski/Sun-Times
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Officials bow their heads in prayer near a transfer case containing the remains of Spc. Michael I. Nance at Dover Air Force Base, Del., on Wednesday, July 31, 2019.|AP Photo/Steve Ruark
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Members of the Illinois Patriot Guard Riders wait for the procession for U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance, a soldier from the South Side who was killed in Afghanistan, at Midway Airport on Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2019.|Megan Nagorzanski/Sun-Times
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Army Spc. Michael I. Nance’s remains are carried off of a transport plane Wednesday, July 31, 2019, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.|AP Photo/Steve Ruark
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Chicago Fire Department personnel prepare for the procession of U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance, a soldier from the South Side who was killed in Afghanistan, on Central Ave near Midway Airport, Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2019.|Megan Nagorzanski/Sun-Times
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A procession for U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance, a soldier from the South Side who was killed in Afghanistan, travels down Central Avenue near Midway Airport, Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2019.|Megan Nagorzanski/Sun-Times
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Vietnam War veteran John De Lozier poses for a portrait after watching the procession for U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance, a soldier from the South Side who was killed in Afghanistan, Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2019.|Megan Nagorzanski/Sun-Times
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A procession for U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance, a soldier from the South Side who was killed in Afghanistan, travels down Central Avenue near Midway Airport, Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2019.|Megan Nagorzanski/Sun-Times
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Michael Isaiah Nance with his mother, Shawn Gregoire, visited London in June.|Provided
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Members of the Illinois Patriot Guard Riders prepare for the procession for U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance, a soldier from the South Side who was killed in Afghanistan, at Midway Airport on Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2019.|Megan Nagorzanski/Sun-Times
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U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance|Provided
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Members of the Illinois Patriot Guard Riders prepare for the procession for U.S. Army Spc. Michael Nance, a soldier from the South Side who was killed in Afghanistan, at Midway Airport on Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2019.|Megan Nagorzanski/Sun-Times
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