South Dakotans come together to mourn fallen soldier

By: Kevin Woster

TIMBER LAKE - On a day when racial lines seemed nonexistent, the people of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation - Native American and white - came together to mourn Cpl. Tanner O'Leary.

The 23-year-old native of Timber Lake and Eagle Butte was laid to rest Thursday afternoon in a private cemetery on the family ranch south of Timber Lake. But family, friends and others - who in some cases traveled across the nation and world to get here - celebrated O'Leary's life in a much more public way during an honor march on Main Street and a memorial service at the school gymnasium that attracted more than 500.

From tribal officials and close friends to national politicians and U.S. Army brass, speakers praised O'Leary, who died Dec. 9 from injuries sustained in a bomb explosion in Afghanistan, as a good-hearted ranch kid who grew naturally into a soldier determined to serve his people.

Former Cheyenne River Tribe Chairman Greg Bourland said O'Leary represented the best of the warrior culture in a Native American society that enlists and serves in the military at five times the national average.

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