Clearlake Marine laid to rest

<p>Six Marines in full dress uniform, one struggling mightily against tears, were the last to say good-bye to Clearlake's Ivan Wilson on Saturday.</p><p>Heads bowed, they stood abreast of the casket that held their fallen comrade, with whom they had served in Iraq.</p><p>He died July 21 in Afghanistan, the victim of a roadside bomb explosion on his second overseas tour with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force stationed in Twentynine Palms.</p><p>As they strode away, Wilson's mother, Denise, watched from her car on a dirt and gravel drive a short distance up the wooded hillside. She waited out the hundreds of graveside mourners -- family, friends, veterans and supporters -- a private moment in her otherwise public grief.</p><p>Wilson, 22, a former Lower Lake High School student and 2004 graduate of Clearlake Community School, was the 13th North Coast service member to die in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2002, and the first from Lake County.</p><p>Hundreds had turned out to pay their respects as his body was escorted from Sacramento to Lake County on Thursday. As many as 400 others attended his funeral and burial service Saturday. </p><p>Denise Wilson told those who jammed into Clearlake's Queen of the Peace Catholic Church for the funeral, while a hundred or more people outside stood by, that she believed her son was now surrounded by soldiers who'd died for their country ahead of him.</p><p>She recalled his frequent sign off in letters - "Mom: Be happy (LOL)" - and told the crowd she was proud he'd chosen a path in military service.</p><p>Father Ron Serban, who officiated during the funeral, read from Wilson's last letter home, written in late May and received just two days ago.</p><p>It was upbeat, complete with doodled happy face, and briefly described the mountains and treeline around his base in a desert region of Afghanistan, the busy effort to get set up and make it secure, the notable absence of electricity or running water, and the fact he was so busy it took two days to jot a letter home.</p><p>He asked for a headlamp to read by at night, as well as a battery charger, and passed on greetings from some his friends. He was, he said, in a "nice place."</p><p>"I guess you might say we've reached our final destination," Serban read toward the beginning of the letter.</p><p>And then toward the end, noting he'd changed one word from the original, "I hope you are in good spirits and don't let the stuff in life bog you down."</p>