Fort Leavenworth community says goodbye to officer killed in Afghanistan

? Bagpipe chords of “Amazing Grace” played in the early afternoon Thursday at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery as a faint wind rustled two rows of American flags.

The flags lined the road leading to the Committal Shelter where graveside services took place for Army Col. John M. McHugh, who was killed May 18 in Afghanistan.

McHugh, 46, was one of five soldiers killed when opposition forces using a vehicle carrying an improvised explosive device near Kabul attacked their convoy.

McHugh, a married father of five who also had a grandchild, was serving as chief of operations for the Fort Leavenworth-based Battle Command Training Program.

During Thursday’s service, Fort Leavenworth military personnel fired a 21-gun salute. Jim Timmons, ceremonial honor bugler for American Legion Post 23 in Leavenworth, played “Taps.”

Private services were at the Main Post Chapel.

McHugh graduated in 1986 from the U.S. Military Academy and served at Fort Carson, Colo., Fort Rucker, Ala., and Hohenfels, Germany, as well as Fort Leavenworth. He also was a 2009 graduate of the U.S. Army War College.

On Tuesday, his son Army Chief Warrant Officer Michael McHugh threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Kansas City Royals’ game at Kauffman Stadium. McHugh’s hometown was West Caldwell, N.J.