Mourners at Chicago funeral remember soldier slain overseas

CHICAGO – Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral for a 24-year-old soldier from Chicago who was killed in Afghanistan just weeks into his first overseas tour.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker were among those who streamed past Spc. Michael Isaiah Nance’s open casket during Tuesday’s funeral at Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s South Side.

Lightfoot called Nance “a great Chicagoan, a loyal friend, a soldier and a warrior.”

Trevor Harris recalled his cousin as a young man with a big appetite and a strong love for his family. He said Nance “died protecting our freedoms. He died a hero.”

Nance and 20-year-old Pfc. Brandon Jay Kreischer of Stryker, Ohio, died July 29 when an Afghan soldier fired on them at a military camp in southern Afghanistan.