Lake County Bar Association colleagues and friends of Shane Mahaffee of Waukegan had gathered at noon May 12 for a “Prayer in the Park” vigil in Waukegan's Bowen Park.

An Army Reserve captain on active duty in Iraq, Mr. Mahaffee died May 15 at age 36 from shrapnel injuries to his shoulder, chest and lungs that he suffered on May 5, when a roadside bomb exploded under the vehicle in which he was riding.

Three other soldiers were killed in the Humvee, which was leading a four-vehicle, 4th Infantry Division convoy in Babil Province, south of Baghdad. U.S. military personnel frequently encountered insurgents in that area.

Mr. Mahaffee was treated in a Baghdad medical facility before being relocated to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. He was to have been transferred to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., but he developed pneumonia and blood clots.

His wife, Jennifer, of Gurnee; his father, Waukegan attorney Stephen M. Martin, and his mother, Hannelore Mahaffee of Kerrville, flew to Germany to be at his bedside. Jennifer and Shane would have celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary on May 9.

“The untimely death of one so young, while in the service of our country, keeps in our minds and in our hearts the sacrifices made by the families of brave men and women who are called to duty,” ISBA President Bob Downs wrote in a letter to the family.

“We are proud of the lawyer members of the Guard and Reserve who have willingly and bravely answered that call.”

A graduate of the Widener University School of Law who was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1995, Shane Reichert Martin Mahaffee had a general practice in Waukegan with a concentration in real estate law.

Commissioned a second lieutenant in 1991, while at Evangel University in Missouri, he was a paratrooper who made 52 jumps. He became a member of the Individual Ready Reserve of personnel with special skills after he left active Army service in 2002.

Mr. Mahaffee was recalled in January and trained for reconnaissance missions at Ft. Bragg, N.C., before being deployed in mid-April to Iraq with the 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne.

Chief Judge Christopher Starck of the 19th Circuit said that for Mr. Mahaffee to return to active duty “exemplified how he lived his entire life. He did it because he believed it was the right thing to do.”

The Waukegan courthouse was nearly deserted May 22 during services for Capt. Mahaffee, and was closed most of the day. Several judges and lawyers were among the throng of more than a thousand.

The mile-long procession from the Gurnee church to the cemetery in Libertyville was led by members of the Patriot Guard Riders, who also provided a pathway of flags from the hearse to the gravesite (see related story).

After rifle volleys by a military honor guard over the flag-draped coffin, “Taps” was bugled and dozens of blue balloons were sent skyward by family and friends.

Lake County Bar members have continued to join “Prayer in the Park” vigils at Bowen Park at 12 noon on Fridays.

Services for Waukegan attorney Shane Mahaffee on May 22 in a Gurnee church and Libertyville cemetery were attended by members of the Patriot Guard Riders (PGR), whose mission is to protect participants from protesters.

In attendance was Princeton attorney Gregory R. Bowman, who belongs to the riders group that “proudly provides a human shield for the family and other mourners.” He left his office at 3:20 a.m. and returned home at 9:45 p.m.

Bikers of the Patriot Guard led the mile-long procession from the church to the cemetery and formed an honor guard of flag bearers. “It was truly a moving experience,” Bowman said.

A member of the ISBA Agricultural Law Section Council who has been on seven PGR missions in five states since March, Bowman spoke about military funeral dissidents before he left.

“I cannot offer any basis, rational or otherwise, for the protests at military funerals but for the publicity they seek for their cause,” he said. “I cannot comprehend their cause.”

He had encountered protesters at four of the services he attended, but not during the funeral or burial of Capt. Mahaffee – “a welcome change,” he said.

Although recent Illinois legislation, the Let Them Rest in Peace Act, creates a buffer or setback distance for such demonstrations, laws can't prevent protests, Bowman pointed out.

“To see the protesters stand on the U.S. flag, and actually spit on that flag, causes these vets extreme pain,” he said. “I have seen physical restraint from their brother soldiers used to prevent confrontation.”

Bowman added that he has learned many of the protesters, who hail from a church in Topeka, Kansas, are licensed attorneys.

“I'll be (at the Mahaffee services) to show my respect for a patriot who gave his life to help keep this country free,” Bowman said in an e-mail to ISBA members on May 17. “I owe more than just this to the man and his family.”

For more information about the Patriot Guard Riders and photo coverage, access www.patriotguard.org. The Kansas dissidents have a Web site at www.godhatesfags.com.

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With profound sadness, I report the passing of a genuine American hero: Shane Mahaffee. Shane, 36 years old, was gravely wounded in Iraq, and he fought valiantly to overcome his injuries sustained when his convoy was attacked outside Baghdad.

Shane embodied the best of America, and from the first moments after the attack (when he demanded his weapon so he could keep watch for the enemy while medics tended to the wounded) to his arrival at an Iraqi military hospital (when he insisted that his men be treated first and that his needs could wait), he acted instinctively with selflessness and undaunted courage.

Shane sacrificed his life to expand freedom and to help a long-oppressed people live in liberty.

He loved his family and his country with a whole heart. Shane Mahaffee was a hero and a patriot, through and through, and it is impossible to overstate his valor. Please pray fervently for Shane's dear wife, Jennifer, and his two precious children – Adelia, 5, and Ethan, 2.

The Mahaffee family is filled with great sorrow, but also with great pride. They, and our nation, have laid a costly sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.