Fort Riley ? With a 21-gun salute and the mournful notes of a bugler, tribute was paid Thursday to three Fort Riley soldiers killed during a training accident in California.

About 300 people, mainly soldiers in uniform, gathered at a post chapel for the 20-minute service for Sgt. Clifton J. Decklar, 22, of Shelton, Wash.; Spec. Bobby L. Newton, 27, of New Orleans, and Pfc. Oscar Perez-Jimenez, 19, of West Covina, Calif. No immediate family of the victims attended.

An unidentified soldier wipes tears from his eyes as he leaves a memorial service at Fort Riley for fallen soldiers Sgt. Clifton J. Decklar, Spec. Bobby Newton and Pfc. Oscar Perez-Jimenez. The three were killed Friday in a training exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. The memorial service was Thursday afternoon.

The soldiers were killed when a 120 mm mortar round fired from an armored vehicle exploded during a training exercise Friday at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.

“All knew them as great warriors who made the ultimate sacrifice,” said Lt. Col. George Brinegar, commander of their unit, the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor.

“These three men were brave soldiers no greater compliment can be paid,” he added.

Brinegar said the loss was felt by all soldiers, and remembrance of them “should be a testimony to what our brotherhood means.”

He said the men “were not fighting for themselves but for others, their friends on the other side of the battlefield.”

At the front of the sanctuary was a display of three rifles with bayonets stuck upside down, as if driven into the ground. Atop each rifle was a helmet; a pair of dogtags dangled from each.

Three pairs of polished black boots and a photograph of each victim were in front of the rifles.

As the service neared its end, the chapel doors opened and out front stood seven soldiers who fired three volleys.

Three times the order was given: “Ready, aim, fire,” followed by three reports sounding as if it was one loud shot. A bugler then slowly played “Taps.”