 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Back
|
They came to honor a hero
By BRADY DENNIS, Times Staff Writer View related 10 News video: TAMPA -- Cars lined nearby streets in every direction, and people poured into the church in the waning daylight. Nearly 500 of them -- young and old, black and white, many dressed in their Sunday best -- packed the sanctuary and balcony and hallways of College Hill Church of God and Christ on N 30th Street.
Davis' body lay 1,000 miles away in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 60, headstone 7867. But the mourners made sure his spirit filled every moment of Wednesday's memorial service. This was not a funeral. It was a celebration of a life well-lived. The multitude clapped, sang, laughed, stomped their feet and shouted "Hallelujah!" and "Amen!" and "Praise Jesus!" A trumpet played and drums sounded. There were organs and pianos and soloists whose voices shook the building and every soul inside it. There were letters from the president and the governor and a pair of senators. The mayor made a proclamation. It was a sendoff for a king, not a common soldier. To hear friends and family tell it, Davis was anything but common. Davis, 40, grew up in the East Tampa neighborhood of College Hill. In 1975, at age 12, Davis pitched for the Belmont Heights Little League and led the team to the World Series. Even his teammates came for Wednesday's service. He graduated from Tampa Bay Tech, then worked at a Tampa Electric Co. plant. While a young man, he fathered two daughters before moving to Anchorage to live with his older sister. Cynthia Davis, an Army wife, persuaded her brother to enlist. He served in the 3rd Infantry Division. Before leaving for the Middle East, he lived outside Savannah, Ga., with his wife, Huiok, and their two young boys. March 31 was the last time Huiok heard from him. He died April 3 while en route to Baghdad with journalist Michael Kelly. Davis lost control of the Humvee he was driving when his convoy came under fire. The Humvee overturned into a canal. Both Davis and Kelly died in the crash. Bob Davis, Wilbert's brother, took the podium Wednesday and flashed a smile. "I don't believe in sad occasions," he said. "I'm grateful to God for the 40 years he allowed me to spend with my brother." He told the story of a drill instructor Davis once had who told his troops: "All you idiots, fall out!" Wilbert Davis remained, standing at attention, while the others left. The instructor asked if there was a problem. Davis replied: "There sure were a lot of them, weren't there, sir?" The crowd roared with laughter. It was the raucousness of the service -- the pure joy of it, really -- that made the final silence so stark, so loud in its own way. A cadet played taps as several other soldiers stood at attention, saluting a portrait of Davis. Day is done, Gone the sun ... The smiles and claps and hallelujahs and amens fell to tears and bowed heads. Then it was over. "I think he really would have appreciated this," said Davis' mother, Willie Mae Lane. "I miss him so much. He's just away for a while. I'll see him again. "He's my hero."
Outside, in Woodland Terrace Park, a group of young boys played basketball under a streetlight, laughing and playing in the neighborhood where Wilbert Davis -- hero -- grew up.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
Headlines From the Times local news desks |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
