SEOUL — About 200 people gathered in the Camp Walker Chapel on Friday afternoon to bid farewell to a fallen comrade, according to a news release.

Maj. Timothy Patrick Auvil, a 42-year-old transportation officer with the 19th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), died Monday after attending a physical fitness event at Camp Carroll.

“We have all lost a comrade this week but I believe it is our soldiers who have suffered the greatest loss,” said Capt. Byron Kemp, company commander, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 20th Area Support Group. “For them, he was a friend, a mentor, a father figure and a refuge from the storm.”

For the memorial service, Kemp said he asked himself “What would Maj. Auvil want?”

“The resounding answer is a smile. He would prefer us to laugh rather than cry,” Kemp said.

The military also sent its condolences to the major’s family in the United States.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to Maj. Auvil’s family,” said Maj. William Caruso, 20th ASG adjutant. “It is a tragic loss for all of us.”

Kemp presented Auvil with a posthumous Meritorious Service Medal, and the ceremony ended with the final roll call and taps.

Auvil, who joined the unit in August, was a Baltimore native. He graduated from Loyola College as a distinguished military graduate of the school’s ROTC program in 1985.

He was commissioned a Field Artillery second lieutenant on May 26, 1985.

An investigation continues to determine the cause of death, according to the release.

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