ROCKFORD - U.S. Army Sgt. Blake Evans was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart today during a somber funeral Mass inside St. Anthony's Church.

Evans was killed May 25 while on patrol in the Al Jazeera Desert in Iraq when a vehicle he was in fell prey to an "improvised explosive device." Two other soldiers from Evans' platoon were seriously injured in the explosion.

The 2002 Guilford High School graduate's flag-draped coffin was carried by U.S. Army soldiers into the church for the funeral Mass. Near the end of the service, the soldiers saluted his coffin one-by-one. Perhaps more than 200 people attended the ceremony including many police officers and city emergency personnel, Police Chief Chet Epperson and Mayor Larry Morrissey.

A brigadier general awarded the medals to members of Evans' family.

A letter from Secretary of the Army Pete Geren was read during the service.

"(Sgt. Evans) was an example of what every American soldier strives to achieve," it said.