Note: This article was originally published on Dec. 20, 2004. We’re re-posting it now for our tribute to Colorado’s Fallen.
He drove his pastor crazy. He made his fellow Marines laugh in the
most miserable of circumstances. And his girlfriend thought he was
the most enchanting rogue she’d ever met.
The short and passionate life of Greg Rund, a Columbine High School
graduate who died in Iraq this month, was celebrated at his funeral
Sunday by an overflow crowd of 1,000 people.
The 21-year-old was remembered not just for his impish shenanigans
– such as using 98 rolls of toilet paper to wrap a house – but for
the zeal with which he took on each day.
It was this depth of feeling, his pastor said, that led him to
enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps just a month after the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“His passion touched his patriotism on 9/11,” said the Rev.
Stephen Poos-Benson at the service at Columbine United Church.
“His sense of patriotism was offended. Greg felt called to
respond.”
Rund was on his second tour of Iraq, in Fallujah, when his team
entered the back door of a house. The Marines were ambushed and
Rund was hit several times by small-arms fire and died.
An e-mail sent to Rund’s mother from another Marine was read aloud
at the service: “Let Rund’s mother know that he was a good Marine.
No, he was more than that. He was a hero.”
Rund’s funeral, attended by many fellow Marines and other military
personnel, honored the heart of a soldier. But it was his
comedian’s soul that many of his friends recalled.
They spoke of how Rund’s car, the “Dangermobile,” would be used
for “alternative sports,” such as dragging a sled through a dirt
field.
They talked about how Rund would hoist a boom box playing the song
“Rock You Like a Hurricane” to his shoulder and run on the field
before soccer games.
His girlfriend told the crowd how once, when they were out on the
town, he convinced her they ought to pretend they were British
actors.
“You always thought you were good at accents,” said Karissa
Marcum, reading a note she wrote him after his death. “But you
weren’t. I told you to stop saying ‘mate.’ That would help.”
Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler Kerr said that Rund’s sense of humor was a
welcome respite during a brutal training session conducted in
weather so cold some soldiers were suffering frostbite.
Rund got up on a vehicle and began singing his heart out. He made
up the words and just belted it out. It was, Kerr said, hilarious. But underneath, the court jester was a caring young man. Just
before he died, he sent a note to his parents – Mark and Jane Rund
– looking for a favor for fellow Marines.
He sent the names of those in his unit who never got mail or
packages and asked church members to adopt them.
Poos-Benson, the pastor, asked those who love and miss Rund to take
comfort in knowing that Rund is now in God’s hands.
Said Poos-Benson: “Having suffered Greg through confirmation, I
would say that God has his hands full.”
