Barnwell -- After he heard his friend Staff Sgt. George Edward Buggs had been killed in Iraq, Ondrew Bellinger found himself taking long, solitary drives in his car.

"I don't like to show my emotions, so I'd get in the car and start crying."

After several of these tearful drives, Bellinger said he imagined Buggs was in the passenger's seat, like he had been so many times before when they were growing up here.

"I just started talking as if he was there," said Bellinger. "He told me, 'Drew this is going to be your last cry,' and it was."

Bellinger was one of more than 500 who came to Barnwell's Guinyard-Butler Middle School Saturday for the funeral of the 31-year-old soldier.

Buggs, 31, was last seen alive March 23 near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. His body was recovered when U.S. troops rescued injured Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch from a hospital in that city. Buggs posthumously was awarded a Purple Heart and promoted to staff sergeant.

Buggs is the first South Carolina soldier confirmed killed in the war in Iraq. He is survived by his wife, Wanda, and his son, Guy.

Addressing Buggs' 12-year-old son, Gov. Mark Sanford said, "I didn't know your father ... but I'm impressed by the trail he left behind. He's an example for everyone in this state and in this country."

Sanford presented Guy with a U.S. flag that flew over the State House in his father's honor.

"I'd like to think that George is smiling somewhere at seeing the statues of Saddam pulled down by jubilant Iraqis," said Maj. Gen. Daniel Mongeon. "He was an American hero.

"Guy, your father is my hero."

'A COMMA, NOT A PERIOD'

In his eulogy, the Rev. Sam Davis, consoled the Buggs family by telling them they would see Buggs again, in heaven.

"This is a comma, not a period," said Davis, minister of a Augusta, Ga., church and a family friend.

Buggs was buried at Barnwell's Hope Memorial Park. A bugler played taps, soldiers fired a 21-volley salute and Mongeon presented Buggs' family with a U.S. flag.

Afterward, family and friends returned to the school for a buffet dinner.

"I'm just trying to get my head clear," said Wanda Buggs, adding that she appreciated "everyone for coming out and showing their support."

Yvonne Buggs, the late soldier's mother, clutched a framed picture of her son to her chest. "He never was negative. He was always positive," she told a friend.

And that was how Buggs' friends remembered him Saturday.

"He was always there if you needed a shoulder to cry on," said Wanda Hallinquest Johnson, who graduated with Buggs from Barnwell High School in 1990.

"I remember when I was getting divorced, five years ago," she said. "He called and helped me get through that. He said he'd always be there for me."

Bellinger said two things stuck out from his car rides with Buggs.

"He told me once, 'Drew, I love the Army. They'll have to kick me out if they want to get rid of me.'

"And Guy," Bellinger said, addressing Buggs' son, "he thought you were one of the wonders of the world."

'THIS LITTLE TOWN HAS ONE OF THEM'

Danny Black was one of several veterans who attended the funeral.

"We came here to honor a fallen comrade," said Black, president of Barnwell's chapter of the Vietnam Veterans Association.

Black carried a folder with the names of 896 South Carolinians who had died in Vietnam. "As long as we're alive, the soldiers that have died by our side will also live," he said.

"This community has always banded together," said Black, who once was Buggs' neighbor.

"One hundred Americans have died in Iraq. And this little town of 6,000 has one of them," he said.

"It's the least we can do to make sure he's honored."