Jason D. Peto
While clouds part to the sun in the moments after a rain storm on a cold, windy Saturday morning, a hearse – with the escort of motorcycles customary to a military funeral - pulls into the parking lot of a church in Vancouver.
For some, it’s the moment that U.S. Marine Sgt. Jason D. Peto’s death becomes a reality.
A friend of the fallen soldier covers her mouth and turns into the shoulder of another, as if looking for shelter from the reality of the flag-covered casket being pulled from the silver gray hearse.
But for others — his big family and wife, Tiffany — the absolute reality of his death has been a unrelenting factor in their lives since Dec. 7, when Peto, 31, succumbed to wounds he suffered while on a Nov. 24 combat mission in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan during his third combat tour.
Wet, bloodshot eyes are hidden behind dark glasses and family members’ hands are gripped tightly, as they follow the casket over the wet concrete, through puddles and into the doors of the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church. In their loss, they stand together, supportive.
They are a military family; Peto’s father, two brothers and an uncle served in the Marines.
And it was that legacy that influenced Peto’s decision to join the Marines in 2004.
As a rifleman, he was deployed twice to Iraq with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. He received the Purple Heart for injuries sustained in a roadside bomb blast during his 2005 deployment to Ramadi, Iraq. Peto recovered and completed a seven-month deployment in 2007. Earlier this year, the Vancouver resident and Southern California native volunteered to serve in Afghanistan.
With jaws set tight Saturday, Marines carefully remove the flag from his casket and fold it. The sun shines through the church’s big windows, filling the high-ceilinged building with bright, clean light. The face of the Marine who carries the folded flag is tear-streaked.
“It was his courage and loyalty that led him to volunteer to join his fellow Marines in Afghanistan,” says Father Joseph Mitchell during an opening sermon in front of hundreds.
Throughout the funeral mass, the sun came and went.
“I thank you all in honoring and celebrating the life of Jason Peto, a truly awesome young man,” said his cousin Brian Moore before pausing to choke down tears and continue his eulogy.
To laughs, he talks of Peto’s sweet tooth, recalling that his favorite candy bar was Bit-O-Honey.
“Easygoing, kind, polite, considerate, that was Jason,” Moore says. He talks of Peto’s disposition to all things sweet, not just in sugar but in the little things– the “sweetness of life.”
And for some brief moments, Peto comes to life.
There’s the time he taught his younger cousins to fish. There’s his first BB gun, the shared beers at barbecues, the motorcycle rides through the desert with the family and a special ringtone to know when his mom, Janie, called. There’s the times when he turned to his mom for help and the time he shared his first kiss as husband and wife with high school sweetheart Tiffany. There were hunting trips with his father, trips to the gun range with his brothers and simple days spent taking long walks and watching the breakers at the ocean.
“You were, you are, you forever will be a sweetness of our life,” Moore finishes.
Jason is survived by his wife, Tiffany of Vancouver; and parents, Ernest and Janie Peto of Vancouver. His father was also a Marine. Jason leaves three brothers, two of whom were also Marines: Michael Peto of Chino, Calif.; Garry Peto of Brush Prairie, Wash.; and Darin Peto of Vancouver; four nephews; five nieces; aunt and uncle, Jimmy and Susie Yanez of Sunset Beach, Calif.; uncle, Henry Wesselman of Brush Prairie; cousins, Karrie, Chris, Jake, Tyler, Spencer Rea, and Logan, all of Huntington Beach, Calif.; Michael and Brian Dillmon of Vancouver; and Brian Moore of Independence, Mo.; and numerous friends.