US marine’s body returned to Indiana home town from Afghanistan

The body of a marine who was among 13 US service members killed in a suicide bombing during the evacuation at Afghanistan’s Kabul airport was returned on Sunday to his northern Indiana hometown.

A military procession marked the start of memorial services for Marine Corps Cpl Humberto Sanchez, 22, of Logansport.

Sanchez’s body arrived on Sunday morning at Grissom Air Reserve Base near Peru, about 128 kilometres north of Indianapolis. The procession then went about 30km to Logansport.

People lined the route to show their respects, many with American flags, and jets flew overhead as the procession approached downtown Logansport.

It stopped briefly downtown, where the hearse carrying Sanchez’s body paused under a garrison flag.

The procession included Indiana State Police and vehicles carrying his family, followed by thousands of motorcycles.

Sanchez was among 17 members of his Logansport High School class who joined the military after their 2017 graduation.

He died in the August 26 attack in Kabul, where he had been transferred after serving as a US embassy guard in Jordan, his obituary said.

Public visiting is scheduled for Monday at LifeGate Church in Logansport. The funeral is set for 11am on Tuesday, to be followed by a burial at Mount Hope Cemetery.