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Anoka, Minn. — (AP) Marine Staff Sgt. Kenneth Pospisil's sister laughed when she remembered last Christmas - when Pospisil hugged his father so hard, the older man briefly passed out and had to spend the night at a hospital. "(He) lived in Technicolor," Susan Bean said of her brother during his funeral Friday. "He was bigger than life, his whole life."
Pospisil, who was known as Blake, died Dec. 14 when a bomb went off near Al Ramadi. The Department of Defense told his mother that the 35-year-old was on his way to disarm the bomb when it went off.
Pospisil's funeral at Mount Olive Evangelical Lutheran Church was a warm, personal affair where friends and family shared memories.
Fellow Marines spoke of Pospisil's love for his work as an explosives expert. They said he felt he was saving the lives of fellow troops and civilians.
His brother-in-law, Ed Bean, said Pospisil had pride in his job, even though he knew he was doing dangerous work.
"He never worried us with the truth. We never found out that several other of his team members had died previously," Ed Bean said. "He didn't remind us of the terrible danger he was in every single day."
Family members said Pospisil had been interested in explosives since childhood.
Pospisil was assigned to the 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He grew up in Anoka and attended Anoka High School, before joining the Army and getting his GED during basic training. He joined the Marines a year later.
In Iraq since September, Pospisil was scheduled to return home in March. It was his first tour in the country.
Pospisil was the 31st Minnesotan to die in connection with the Iraq war. Gov. Tim Pawlenty ordered state flags flown at half staff Friday in his honor.
After the funeral service, a group of Marines marched behind the hearse as it carried Pospisil's body to a cemetery overlooking the church in Anoka.
He was buried with a 21-gun salute.
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