OHIO — The remains of an Ohio Navy Corpsman who was killed in Afghanistan are coming home.
Max Soviak’s remains will arrive at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport around 10:25 a.m. Wednesday, where a private procession will take place. The procession will travel west on the Ohio Turnpike to U.S. Route 250 at Exit 118, which is when the public will be invited to join.
Those who wish to take part in the procession must wait along the route no later than 11:30 a.m. The procession will go past Edison High School, where Soviak graduated in 2017. The route will end at Morman-Hinman-Tanner Funeral Home.
“All members of the community are invited and encouraged to pay their respects to Corpsman Soviak and his family along the entire public processional route. Please exercise caution if parking along a road right-of-way to ensure that your vehicle is entirely off of the traveled portion of the roadway,” Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth said in a statement regarding the procession.
Soviak of Berlin Heights was one of 13 service members killed in a suicide bombing outside the airport in Kabul on Aug. 26. The terror group ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the attack.
Last week, the Navy posthumously advanced Soviak to the rank of Hospital Corpsman Third Class.
Soviak, 22, enlisted in September 2017 and attended Hospital Corpsman School in San Antonio, Texas, before postings in Guam and at Camp Pendleton.
The Soviak family said in a statement that “words cannot express how heartbroken we are with this news and we will miss Max tremendously.” It said he leaves behind a dozen brothers and sisters “that are all hurting terribly.”
A GoFundMe fundraiser has been created to help Soviak’s family, according to the GoFundMe page.
“His family is going through much turmoil and grief so we wanted to start this fund in honor of Max and his family, to help with everything financial so they can focus on their family during this time of need,” the creator Jason Garza wrote on the GoFundMe page.
