The procession ended at the Oses’ church, First Presbyterian Church of Hernando (a congregation aligned with the Presbyterians For Renewal), where greeters included preschoolers of the day school.

Memphis to Hernando joined Monday in a bittersweet homecoming for fallen hero Joshua S. Ose. The 19-year-old Marine was killed last week on a patrol in Afghanistan only two weeks into his tour of duty in the ravaged country.

Hearts swelled and tears welled as the motorcade procession with the white hearse containing Ose’s flag-draped wooden casket made its way from Wilson Air Center at Memphis International Airport…

“That’s the price we have to pay for our freedom sometimes — no, not sometimes, lots of times, and it’s not over yet,” said retired Army Master Sgt. Jimmy Warren, 68, a veteran of the Vietnam War who served with the famed 101st Screaming Eagles…

“It’s a great outpouring,” said U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who greeted Ose’s parents, Ross and Sissy Ose of Hernando, at Wilson Air…

Along the route at Airways and State Line Road in Southaven, a U.S. flag was suspended by a fire ladder truck as dozens of people filled the corners. At other points, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts gathered, as did members of Mississippi National Guard Company A, 2-198, based in Hernando…

“I think it took a lot of guts for him to go out there and protect our country,” said Hernando ninth-grader Chelsie Owens, 14. She and friend Katlyn Gouge, also 14, had spent first period making signs that said, “Joshua — We Will Miss You.”