Fallen Marine returns home to Bay area

SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. - The body of Lance Corporal Nathaniel Schultz, who died in Afghanistan, arrived at MacDill Air Force Base this morning.

The 19-year-old Countryside High School graduate died during a combat operation in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, after serving there for roughly one week.

After a ceremony at MacDill, Corporal Schultz was escorted with full honors to the Serenity Meadows Funeral Home in Riverview.

Hundreds lined Bayshore Boulevard to honor the fallen Marine.

"It's the least we can do," said Bruce Hockensmith with the Lutz Patriots. "He made the ultimate sacrifice for this country.  This is no sacrificae at all."

A viewing will take place between 5 and 9 p.m. this evening at the funeral home and is open to the public.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday at Bell Shoals Baptist Church beginning at 11 a.m.

Following the funeral service, Corporal Schultz will be taken to the Sarasota National Cemetary, where he will be buried with full military honors.

Florida Sheriff's Youth Ranch and his former high school staff in Safety Harbor are remembering Corporal Schultz, as they say goodbye.

Nate Shultz lived at the Sheriff's Youth Ranch for two years as he prepared for a military career and those around him say he was very determined.

Florida Sheriff's Youth Ranches Program Director, Scott Halbach, remembers Shultz as a tenacious young man.

"That's the thing about Nate, he was always very focused and whatever he set his mind to do he would accomplish," Halbach said.

In addition to attending school, he worked for a local Sweetbay grocery store and those around him say he gravitated towards people with military experience.

"I think he just liked to talk about being in the military, and since I'd been in military, we have about five or six teachers who had been in the military and he is the third student whom we've lost," said Lewis Curtwright Jr. of Countryside High School.

His family at the ranch said he died the man that he wanted to become, and they'll always remember him as the determined and focused boy, they helped to mold.