WEST POINT, N.Y. - Capt. Jason B. Jones made many memories at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York.
Memories that his family and friends will never forget.
It was where he graduated sixth in his class in 2007. It was where, nearly a year ago to the day, he married the love of his life, Dr. Amy Weniger.
On Tuesday, it was where the late Orwigsburg native was laid to rest alongside fellow fallen comrades.
Jones, 29, was killed June 2 in a small-arms firefight near Jalalabad, Afghanistan. He was the commander of a 12-man Special Forces A-Team with the Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets.
A 2003 graduate of Blue Mountain High School, Jones earned a degree in nuclear engineering from the U.S. Military Academy in 2007 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his deployment in Iraq from 2008 to 2009 and received various other military degrees and honors. He joined the Green Berets in May 2013 and was deployed to Afghanistan in April 2014.
A memorial service was held June 7 at First United Methodist Church, Pottsville.
Interment services with full military honors were held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the West Point Cemetery.
The hearse with his cremated remains was escorted from Schuylkill County to West Point by more than one hundred members of the Patriot Guard Riders of Pennsylvania. The procession left Lord-Bixler Funeral Home, Pottsville, just after 8 a.m. and passed through a fireman's arch with a giant American flag hanging overhead in Garfield Square.
That was the first of many tributes along the way as American flags hung from nearly every overpass on the procession route.
The West Point Band was at grave site early, marching quietly through the cemetery to the light beat of a drum. It remained quiet until the roar of the escorting motorcycles could be heard in the distance. An American flag waved from each bike.
The Patriot Guard Riders each then held a flag and surrounded the grave site as the hearse arrived in the cemetery.
Soldiers escorted his family to the graveside tent.
Chaplain Major Brad Borders, of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, said a few prayers. Although Borders said he did not personally know Jones, he wanted to represent Fort Bragg, which was where Jones was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group.
The Rev. Fred Melton of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Wilmington, Delaware, presided over the services Tuesday. He married Jones and Weniger at West Point on June 15, 2013. Melton said Weniger grew up as a member of his church, but he has only recently known Jones.
"I only had the honor to know him for about a year and a half," he said. "But my first and early impressions are what you knew for his entire life."
"Words can not describe the sadness in our hearts," he said.
A gun salute was followed by taps and a soldier then tightly folded an American flag over the ark containing the urn. Flags were given to Jones's wife and family before they said their final farewells.
Following the services a reception was held at The James K. Herbert Alumni Center on campus. Photos were displayed outside the hall, including those from the wedding at West Point just a year earlier. Among the photographs were the words: "Jason, you will be with us forever."
Jones's hometown paid a final tribute to its fallen hero Tuesday evening. There was a brief ceremony with a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps at 8:15 p.m. The American flag was then raised to full staff.
The family request contributions in Jason's honor be sent to Wounded Warrior Project at www.woundedwarriorproject.org and the Animal Protection Society of Durham, 2117 E. Club Blvd., No. 101, Durham, NC 27704.