Mother Lode Community Salutes Army Sgt. Bobby Rapp

Sonora, CA — For a week and a half there has been an outpouring of love, concern and sorrow from the Mother Lode community following the announcment that 22 year old Army Sgt. Bobby Rapp had died in the line of duty in Afghanistan Monday, March 3.

This week Columbia Elementary School students paid tribute to the fallen war hero by decorating the front wall of the Parrotts Ferry Rd. campus with drawings.

Many Mother Lode residents will line the downtown streets in an effort to pay homage to Bobby Rapp during this morning´s processional scheduled to get underway at nine o´clock from the Terzich and Wilson Funeral Home.

During the Celebration of Life processional employees of Prudential California Realty and California Gold Develoment Corporation will stand atop the Old Wards Ferry Rd. overpass with their flags as a salute to the Sonora High School graduate.

Following the ceremony, the entire Sonora Elementary School administration, faculty and students, dressed in red, white and blue, will exit their buildings to pay their tribute to a fallen soldier as the procession makes its way up Greenley Rd. to Lyons Bald Mountain Rd. and on to Dambacher Cemetary for a full military funeral.

Rapp becomes the second Mother Lode resident in less than a year´s time to surrender his life in the Middle East. Groveland Army Sgt. Matthew L. Tallman was killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq in August.

Written by Bill Johnson