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By JOEL ELLIOTT
Staff Writer Monday, July 16, 2007

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Staff photo by Jim Evans ESCORT: The body of Army Pfc. Jason E. Dore was escorted to a town near his hometown of Bingham on Sunday.

enlarge Staff photo by Jim Evans

SOLDIER'S RETURN: The body of Army Pfc. Jason E. Dore arrives in Augusta Sunday morning with military honors as his family watched nearby. He was killed recently in action in Baghdad.

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Storefront windows bearing Dore's name in red, white and blue paper cutout letters shuddered with the bass rhythm of chugging engines as a mile-long column of motorcycles and cars escorted him to the end of his trip back from Baghdad.

For a moment, the crowds were awash in the overpowering rumble as the motorcade rolled into town and dispersed. Then the slate-gray hearse turned off toward the funeral home and the last cyclist switched off his machine.

The dreary day's silence was broken only by rain falling in the street and people crying on the sidewalks.

A gaggle of motorcyclists, members of the Patriot Guard Riders, gathered on a sidewalk, talking in hushed tones among themselves.

"We feel that these guys coming home should be thanked," Randy Scott, a rider from Union, said. "A lot of us served in Vietnam, and we weren't well- received. That doesn't need to happen again."

It seemed that the entire town of 1,000 had known Dore, and had turned out to join his family in grieving his death. Inside Valley View Market general store, past which most of the procession had passed, store owner Bill MacDonald looked on with sadness.

"I've had this store 18 years; I watched him grow up," he said. "He was just an ordinary kid. He grew up right here, just like we all did."

MacDonald said that Dore's death hit the town with an impact that has been unmatched since another of its sons, Kenneth Belanger, died 40 years ago in Vietnam.

Dore died July 8 when a roadside bomb exploded near the 25-year-old. Surviving Dore are his mother, Gail, his 15-year-old brother, Logan, his father, Jody, and his fiancˇe, Sophie Belanger.

None of them was available for comment, according to Dore's uncle, Brian Cates.

"I've got them all behind closed doors," he said. "They are trying to prepare for the funeral Tuesday. That will be their biggest hurdle."

Cates was standing in the American Legion Hall up the road as motorcyclists drip-dried on the tile floors and warmed up around Styrofoam cups of coffee. Most of them had ridden up from Augusta State Airport, where Dore's body had been flown in earlier in morning.

Vehicles stopped on both sides of U.S. Route 201, and their occupants climbed out and saluted, waved or occasionally just sobbed in the rain as the motorcade crept north. Children from Skowhegan to Bingham left their houses to wave soggy American flags or hold up banners in honor of U.S. troops.

"It was a very, very emotional day," Cates said. "We had a real hero come home."

Joel Elliott -- 861-9252
jelliott@centralmaine.com

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