The body of a U.S. Marine from Standish who was slain this month in South Carolina has been returned to Maine, and his family has announced plans for his funeral service as well as a burial with full military honors.
Tyler Wallingford Photo courtesy of Standish Public Safety Dept.
The memorial service for Tyler Patrick Wallingford, 21, will be held this coming Saturday at a Portland funeral home. Wallingford was a corporal in the Marine Corps.
His obituary, published Sunday in the Maine Sunday Telegram, said visiting hours will be held from 9 a.m. to noon with a memorial service to follow at the A.T. Hutchins Funeral Home, 660 Brighton Ave. After the funeral service, Wallingford will be buried at Brooklawn Memorial Park in Portland with full military honors.
Wallingford was shot to death April 12 in his barracks at an air station in Beaufort, South Carolina. His death is being investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Investigators have detained a suspect, Cpl. Spencer T. Daily, in connection with the death. Both men worked as aircraft ordnance technicians with the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 based at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina.
The military has not released any further updates regarding its investigation of the fatal shooting. Wallingford was a third-generation firefighter who worked for the Standish Fire Department before joining the military. Wallingford started working for the fire department while in high school. His father, Richard, still works there. Tyler graduated from Bonny Eagle High School in 2015.
According to his obituary, Wallingford grew up in Standish and was active in several sports, including football, baseball, basketball and swimming. Soon after high school graduation, he joined the Marines and left for boot camp training at Parris Island, South Carolina. He later was stationed in Beaufort, where he developed a passion for skydiving. His family said Wallingford completed more than 100 jumps and encouraged others to try skydiving.
“Proud of his own accomplishment, he celebrated his 100th skydive by jumping naked,” his family wrote in his obituary. “His fearless and fun attitude inspired anyone who met him.”
NewsCenter Maine reported that Wallingford’s body arrived at Boston’s Logan Airport on Saturday afternoon. Standish Fire Chief Robert Caron told the TV station that a procession escorting his body was met at every overpass on Interstate 95 between Boston and Portland. The overpasses were lined with firefighters, first responders and firetrucks.
The procession arrived at the funeral home around 5:30 p.m.
Wallingford is the third firefighter from Maine to have died this year.
Capt. Joel Barnes, 32, of the Berwick Fire Department became the first firefighter in Maine killed in the line of duty in more than 38 years when he died fighting an apartment building fire in Berwick on March 1.
Oxford’s fire chief, Gary Sacco, 63, died later that month when he suffered some type of medical episode while attending Barnes’ funeral in Portland.
“It feels like there are far too many recently – losses in our public service community,” Capt. Gary Wagner of the Westbrook Fire Department told NewsCenter Maine on Saturday. “I believe that we’re probably all tired of loss. However, remembering those we’ve lost reminds us of what we’re doing and how important it is to serve”
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