Saturday, July 11, 2015, 8:03 p.m.
An American flag draped the casket of Air Force Tech Sgt. Lewis Barkley III as police, firefighters, members of the Air Force and his family met his body Saturday at Pittsburgh International Airport.
Barkley, 36, a 1997 graduate of Apollo-Ridge High School in Armstrong County, drowned July 4 while swimming in the ocean in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.
A resident of Summerville, S.C., he served as a crew chief in the Air Force for more than 17 years.
More than a dozen uniformed officers and firefighters stood at attention as Barkley's casket took a 10-foot descent down a conveyor belt off Delta Air Lines Flight 1462. Barkley's four children and other family members wept as six members of the Air Force carried the casket from the end of the ramp to the back of a black hearse.
His family was unavailable for comment.
A funeral procession on airport grounds included several Allegheny County police cruisers, two fire trucks from the Allegheny County Airport Authority Fire Rescue and a black van carrying Barkley's family. The procession stopped for a few minutes at the corner of Business Loop 376 and Hangar Service Road when 15 motorcyclists from the Patriot Guard Riders held up American flags. The motorcyclists joined the procession on its way to the funeral home in Peters, county police said.
Barkley was born in Spokane, the son of Lewis M. Barkley Jr. of Washington, Pa., and the late Janet M. Barkley. He is survived by his wife, Mary; children, Lewis IV, Jocelyn, Gabriel and Matthew; and sisters, Kimberly Megonnel of Upper St. Clair and Melissa Barkley.
Visitation will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday in Cremation & Funeral Care on Washington Road in Peters. A private service with full military honors will follow. Interment will be at a later date in The National Cemetery of the Alleghenies in Cecil.
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