PORT BYRON -- As a mother whose two children are in the military, Chris Gleason has a special connection to the tragic death of Patrick A. Devoe II.

Gleason, of Port Byron, came out Saturday to show her support to Devoe's family as his body was returned home from Afghanistan. Gleason's daughter Jessica, who is in the U.S. Army, was a friend of Devoe's and they graduated from Dana West Junior-Senior High School together.

"It really makes what's going on closer to home," she said. "For me it's actually a lot more than that. Having kids in the military, it's very scary."

Devoe, 27, was killed last week after an improvised explosive device hit the vehicle he was driving on mounted patrol in Kandau Kalay, Afghanistan. An Auburn native, he joined the Army in 2008. He had been deployed to Afghanistan with the 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, Airborne, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska, earlier this month.

More than 200 people gathered near Dana West Junior-Senior High School to pay their respects to Devoe Saturday afternoon.

Gleason's children will be deploying for a second time in July and September. Her son, Patrick, will be in the Air Force for two more years while her daughter has been in the Army for more than 10 years.

"I'm a nervous wreck," she said thinking about what lies ahead and the tours of duty her children will embark on later this year.

Among those in the crowd was Mark Murray, of Auburn, who grew up and went to school with Devoe. Though they lost touch over the years, Murray said Devoe was a good friend.

"I came to see my buddy Pat," he said. "He was a good guy, always happy. I came to pay my respects. The man died for his country and everyone should pay their respects for that."

Many of those present at the procession in Port Byron currently attend Dana West.

Kaylee Quanbeck, 13, Melissa Wilson, 13, and Breanne Steimle, 13, are all in the eighth grade. Though they found out about the procession late Friday afternoon, the girls came to support the family and spent Friday sending text messages to spread the word.

"We just wanted to show respect to someone who died to protect us, died for our country and he's from our school," Wilson said. "We just got the memo about this hours before and all these people came and it shows how our school is."

The large crowd, full of students holding flags, grew silent minutes before the procession came at approximately 2:20 p.m. Two long rows of people stood and watched as the hearse came and went --their silence a symbol of the respect, admiration and gratitude for freedom.

Senior Joscelyn Emilio said she got the information about the procession from physical education teacher Angie Hargreaves.

"She said come down here and give the same respect as we did to Jerry Bell. And we should be down here respecting him," said Emilio. "It will affect us but we know that they were doing a great cause fighting for our country and we should all be grateful and pay respects to their families and do as much as we can to say thank you to them."

Sgt. Jerome C. Bell Jr., of the U.S. Marine Corps, was killed in combat in Afghanistan in September 2008. Bell graduated from Dana West Junior-Senior High School in 1997.

Hargreaves, the physical education teacher at the school, was one of Bell and Devoe's teachers, she said.

"We'll handle it the best we can. We're actually more concerned about the families and what we can do for them. It has to be just as painful for Jerry's family right now as it is for Pat's to have to relive through this again less than six months after they buried their son," Hargreaves said.

She is still trying to understand how such a small community could suffer the loss of two great men within a six-month period.

"I'm still trying to figure out how something like this can happen. Not only how it can happen but how it can happen so close together," she said. "The fact that it's happened to two families from such a close community so close together ... it's just very difficult to understand."

Wreathea O'Hara, of Port Byron, came with a group of friends to pay her respects. O'Hara said that while it will be difficult to get over two losses that happened so close together, it's important to be grateful for the freedoms Americans have.

"I feel that they did a lot in serving the country and they're there to protect my freedom and that we should appreciate our freedom a lot more than what we do," she said. "I'm sure it's going to be difficult for the community. When you take two in six months, that's a lot. ... When it ends up two from the same town, the same school, that's a lot."

Dawn VanHorn, of Weedsport, went to school with Bell's father and knows Devoe's father and stepmom. VanHorn, who came with O'Hara Saturday, explained how tragic this loss is.

"It's hurtful, painful," she said about the two deaths in such a short period of time. "I didn't know the young men that well but I put myself in their place and what if it was my child? I think that's the saddest thing. When you lose a parent, you grieve but to lose a child, I don't believe you ever get over it."