A high school friend who attended the wake for Cpl. Brian St. Germain, who died in Iraq this month, recalled his soft-spoken nature: "I don't think he had any enemies."

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 12, 2006

BY BENJAMIN N. GEDAN
Journal Staff Writer

COVENTRY -- Uniformed Marines lined the entryway to the Robert A. Iannotti Funeral Home yesterday, as hundreds of mourners gathered at a wake for Marine Cpl. Brian St. Germain, the 22-year-old West Warwick man who died April 2 in Iraq.

Friends and relatives of St. Germain said he was dressed in military attire, with a rotating set of Marines guarding the open casket for five hours. A slide show displayed photos from his military service, which included two tours in Iraq, and many mourners left carrying bright Marines stickers. (St. Germain's family asked journalists not to attend the wake, Marine 1st Sgt. Todd Parisi said.)

The flag at the Washington Street funeral home flew at half-staff, and three Coventry police officers directed traffic outside. Cars filled the parking lot and lined nearby Read Avenue.

"I had heard so much about him," said Kathleen Higgins, 31, of Foxboro, Mass., who works with St. Germain's mother, Lynn, at Centreville Savings Bank in West Warwick. "His mom was the proudest Marine mom you could meet."

Higgins described Lynn St. Germain as a walking billboard for the Marines. She had placed a Marines bumper sticker on her car, a yellow ribbon on her lapel and a framed photograph of her son posing beside Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld inside her office.

"There's a lot of sadness, but also a lot of pride," Higgins said. "He died doing what he loved."

Many of Lynn St. Germain's colleagues from the bank also attended the wake, as did coworkers of Cpl. St. Germain's father, Robert, a longtime planner at Electric Boat.

A West Warwick High School graduate, St. Germain was among six Marines who died when a flash flood upended the seven-ton truck they were riding in near Al Asad, Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. He had been assigned to the 1st Marine Logistics Group, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

An all-star runner in high school, St. Germain was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq. He joined the Marines in May 2002, a year after graduating.

Yesterday, St. Germain's high school classmates were among the steady crowd of mourners. Nicole Petrarca, 22, of West Warwick, remembered St. Germain as a soft-spoken student who had attended her 16th birthday party at the West Warwick Country Club.

"He was so sweet," Petrarca said. "I don't think he had any enemies."

bgedan@projo.com / (401) 277-8072