DECATUR, Ill. — A central Illinois sailor who died when the destroyer USS McCain collided with an oil tanker near Singapore last month was remembered as a hero during his funeral Monday.

Hundreds of mourners gathered at Life Foursquare Church in Decatur, three weeks after Logan S. Palmer, 23, went missing following the collision on Aug. 21. He was one of 10 sailors whose remains were recovered.

The Rev. Mark Cooper said Palmer “gave his life in service to his country” and told his family that “Logan’s sacrifice is also your sacrifice.”

“You have given a son, a brother, a grandson, a friend, to a grateful nation,” Cooper said. “That nation and its citizens owe you and Logan a debt of gratitude.”

The funeral service was followed by procession from the church to Harristown Cemetery, The (Decatur) Herald and Review reported.

From left: Hunter Hill, Saria Lappin and Heather Albert display a sign of support for those participating in the funeral procession for Logan S. Palmer at Life Foursquare Church in Decatur, Ill., Monday, Sept. 11, 2017. Palmer was one of several sailors who died when the USS McCain collided with an oil tanker near Singapore last month. The three women were in the same graduating class as Palmer at Sangamon Valley High School. (Jim Bowling/Herald & Review via AP)

A Naval honor guard carried Palmer’s flag-draped casket into the church, surrounded by red, white and blue flowers. Palmer’s funeral procession passed under a large American flag suspended between two Decatur Fire Department ladder trucks. The route was lined with about 2,400 flags.

Palmer was an interior communications electrician 3rd class petty officer and graduated from Sangamon Valley High School.

The cause of the collision is under investigation. The crash ripped a gash in the McCain’s hull, flooding crew berths and machinery and communications rooms.

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