Thousands Pay Tribute To Major Brent Taylor

OGDEN, Utah – Thousands of people walked through Dee Event Center in Ogden Friday night to pay their respects in a public viewing for Major Brent Taylor.

“There are some people we know, but so many people we don’t know,” said Taylor’s sister-in-law, Kristy Pack.

People were eager to learn about the life of Major Brent Taylor. Surrounding his flag-draped casket were tables set-up with photos and mementos from different times in his life.

“You have Brent the soldier, Brent the farmer, the student, and of course Brent the father,” Pack said.

Now, there is a title the family will carry; one they hoped to never bear. The Taylor family is now considered a “Gold Star Family” and presented with pins signifying an immediate family member being killed in action.

His family also received the Purple Heart and The Bronze Star on his behalf.

“Just look at the number of people he affected and the lives he touched,” Captain Jerrid Floyd said of the public viewing. “It just says a lot about the kind of man he was.”

Major Brent Taylor often volunteered to work the night shift on a former deployment in Japan, a story Captain Floyd told Friday night.

“If you worked the night shift you got to go play out in the city during the day,” Floyd said with a smile.

Around Dee Events Center there were tears, laughter, hugs and people offering one last goodbye.

Senator-Elect Mitt Romney and his wife Ann were among those in attendance.

Following the viewing, a military honor vigil was held at a mortuary in Ogden.

“It will be Brent and my last night together,” said Floyd. “I get to just watch over his body that last night before the funeral.”

Major Brent Taylor’s funeral will be on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. in Ogden.