CALHOUN, Ga. – The former North Georgia policeman who died in Afghanistan last week was laid to rest Thursday.
Gary Wayne Willard, who was a Calhoun police sergeant until 2008, was killed June 7 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, while training Afghan police. He was contractor for the private military services corporation DynCorp.
Comrades say the 44-year-old married father of two was the no-nonsense military man who demanded the best while walking a beat and later while training police in foreign countries.
“He never would have wanted to live to be an old man suffering in bed,” said best friend and fellow Calhoun police Officer Arnold Gillman. “Wayne went out in a warrior fashion.”
Thursday’s funeral brought out many law enforcement officers from agencies all across North Georgia. Because of his service as a U.S. Marine Corps from 1983 to 1989, a three-man Marine honor guard was present. Officers brought his casket to Trinity Baptist Church in a SWAT vehicle and Gordon County sheriff’s deputies performed a gun salute.
The day he died, Mr. Willard managed to fend off two insurgents before being shot, said Therrell Goswick, a retired Calhoun police chief. He said Mr. Willard saved lives that day even if he lost his own.
“Because he wasn’t serving in the military when he died, Wayne won’t be awarded the Silver Star … but when he gets to the supreme commander in the sky, you better believe he’ll get his Silver Star and a crown of glory,” Mr. Goswick said.
Mr. Willard was on his eighth tour of contract work when he was killed. Before his last two tours with DynCorp, he completed six tours with Blackwater. Members of the U.S. Department of State and officials with DynCorp spoke at Thursday’s funeral.
Melanie Brock, a U.S. State Department adviser, delivered a letter from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and told mourners that Mr. Willard died doing important work.
“We often tell the contractors we deploy to represent the best of American values in their everyday actions,” Ms. Brock said. “Mr. Willard is a fine example of that. He trained young Afghans that have never known the feeling of living in a safe world.”
While in Afghanistan, Mr. Willard took gifts to orphaned Afghan children. DynCorp Vice President Don Ryder said his work will leave a lasting impact.
“Wayne’s mission was challenging and rewarding, but, let there be no mistake, it was tough. Plain and simple,” said Mr. Ryder, a retired retired U.S. Army major general. “He stood up every day, put his boots on and not only performed his job to standard, but to above standard.”
Mr. Willard is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and two children, Samantha and Travis, of Resaca, Ga.
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