Maine Army National Guard Spc. Christopher D. Gelineau

Died April 20, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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23 of Portland, Maine; assigned to the 133rd Engineer Battalion, Army National Guard, Gardiner, Maine; killed April 20 when his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Mosul, Iraq.

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Funeral held for Guardsman killed in Mosul explosion

By Sara Leitch

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine — Spc. Christopher Gelineau, a 1999 graduate of Mount Abraham Union High School in Bristol who served with the Maine Army National Guard, was laid to rest with full military honors Saturday.

Gelineau, 23, died April 20 in an ambush in northern Iraq. He is the seventh soldier with Vermont roots to be killed in combat since the war began over a year ago.

Gelineau was posthumously awarded Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals and promoted to sergeant. Brig. Gen. John W. “Bill” Libby, the head of Maine’s Army National Guard, presented the medals.

Gelineau, a member of the Maine National Guard’s 133rd Engineering Battalion, was killed when a convoy he was traveling in was attacked outside Mosul.

“There are those who are not willing to accept the minimum standards, those willing to give far more to their fellows” in the military, said Maj. Andrew Gibson, a Guard chaplain. “Let that be Chris’ lesson to us — that we might be willing to do a little bit more.”

He spoke after a Greek Orthodox funeral held in the University of Southern Maine’s gymnasium. About 400 people attended the service, including about 100 members of the Maine Army and Air National Guards.

The Rev. Constantine Sarantidis of Portland’s Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church performed the funeral, singing and chanting above the hum of ceiling fans that filled the gym with incense.

“The quality of life is not measured by length of years but by selfless service,” Sarantidis said. “By this measure, we can say Christopher Gelineau lived a full life.”

Gov. John Baldacci and U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe attended the funeral. Baldacci presented widow Lavinia Gelineau, 24, with a Maine flag flown over the State House.

Although the couple was married for just two years, “you showed me what perfect love was,” she said, clutching a fuzzy pink teddy bear. “You will always be my hero.”

She spoke for several minutes about the couple’s life together, then picked up a guitar to perform “Right Here Waiting” by Richard Marx.

It was the couple’s favorite song, she said, in part because it was the only one Christopher Gelineau could play.

“It’s not going to sound the same because my heart is broken,” she said.

The service was followed by a burial in Portland’s Evergreen Cemetery, where members of the Maine Army National Guard fired a 21-gun salute.

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Vermont soldier dies in Iraq ambush

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Christopher D. Gelineau, a Vermont high school graduate who was in Iraq with the Maine National Guard, died Tuesday after enemy fighters ambushed his convoy.

Gelineau, 23, is the seventh soldier with Vermont roots to be killed in combat since the war began more than a year ago.

A 1999 graduate of Mount Abraham Union High School in Bristol, Gelineau was a specialist with the 133rd Engineer Battalion. Before being deployed to Iraq in March he lived in Portland, Maine, where he attended the University of Southern Maine.

“He was a very nice boy. He was patient and quiet,” said an aunt, Pam Gelineau of Eden, Wednesday night. “I don’t know what else to say.”

Gelineau’s mother and stepfather, Victoria and Jesse Chicoine, live in Starksboro, and his father, John, lives in Eden.

The families left early Wednesday for Maine to be with Gelineau’s wife of one year, Lavinia, Pam Gelineau said.

Those who knew Gelineau described him as a quiet, friendly, reliable young man who loved working with computers.

Gelineau was one of about 500 members of the 133rd Engineer Battalion sent for a one-year tour of duty in Iraq, based in the northern city of Mosul.

Several members of the 133rd, including Gelineau, were driving in a convoy Tuesday in Mosul, serving as a protective escort to military firefighters from South Carolina, Maine National Guard officials said.

Gelineau was in the lead Humvee when a roadside bomb exploded and heavily damaged the vehicle. Enemy fighters then began shooting at the soldiers.

Gelineau and three others were injured in the explosion and battle. Gelineau and the others were taken to a nearby military hospital, officials said. They said they were unsure whether Gelineau died of his wounds en route or at the aid station.

Gelineau is the first member of the Maine National Guard to be killed in Iraq.

— Associated Press