(WHAS11) - The body of a 22-year-old Indiana National Guardsman killed in Iraq last week is now back home in Madison, Indiana.

Thousands of people turned out today to pay their respects as a procession made its way through the tight knit Ohio River community.

Madison came out to honor a fallen son.  From homes, businesses and cars, people streamed to the roadside to pay witness and tribute.

Chuck Nunan said, “Freedom is not free.  It sounds kind of trite, but it’s really true.”

Specialist Jon Menke had been in Iraq about three months when last week a roadside bomb exploded under his vehicle.

Chuck Nunan was his 8^th grade American history teacher.

Chuck Nunan said, “That hit home really hard when I found out last Monday that he had been killed.  We talked about the very kind of things in class that he had been experiencing.  Very tough.”

Like many Madison parents, Nunan brought his children.  One woman carried an infant, almost everyone carried a flag.  Workers from Taco Bell and the Holiday Inn express and miles of other businesses alongside Clifty Drive.

Just three years after his graduation, Menke’s visitation Wednesday and funeral Thursday will be in the high school gym.

Nannette Henry said, “It’s sad. And like I said, my husband has a son in Iraq and a daughter that just came back... And it could be us.  People stand together that are in the same boat.”

At first glance, today had the look of an Independence Day parade.  Yet, it was less a celebration of freedom than the recognition that freedom comes at a price.

Brenda Robbins said, “To give our support to the family in their grieving time.  And let everybody know we are free.  Not everybody is.  We are free, and this child give his life for us to be free.”

On Thursday, Jon Menke will be laid to rest alongside veterans of prior wars.  At the graveside, a member of the military will kneel before his family and present a flag, a “token of appreciation” from “a grateful nation.”  That appreciation repeated thousands of times by his community. 

The visitation and public viewing for specialist Jonathan Menke is at Madison high school.

The funeral is also at Madison High School.