Remains of Ohio sailor to return to hometown Wednesday

BERLIN HEIGHTS >> The remains of a U.S. Navy sailor killed in a suicide bombing at Afghanistan’s Kabul airport will be returned to his hometown in Ohio on Wednesday before his funeral next week.

Veterans groups on motorcycles and public safety officials will escort the remains of Navy Hospital Corpsman Maxton “Max” Soviak from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to his hometown of Berlin Heights.

The public has been invited to line the route of the processional.

The processional passes through the villages Milan and Berlin Heights and by Edison High School, where Soviak graduated in 2017.

A public visitation will be held Sunday at the high school. The funeral will be Monday morning at the school’s football stadium.

Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, died during an attack that killed 12 other U.S. service members at the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport.

He enlisted in September 2017 and attended Hospital Corpsman School in San Antonio, Texas, before postings in Guam and at Camp Pendleton.

He is survived by his parents

“We are incredibly proud of his service to our country.”

— The Soviak family, in a statement

and a dozen brothers and sisters.

The Soviak family said in a statement that “he was most proud to be a Navy Corpsman and a ‘devil doc’ for the Marines.”

“He was excited about the opportunities the Navy would offer him and planned to make the Navy a career,” the family said. “We are incredibly proud of his service to our country.”

CAROLYN KASTER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE A carry team loads a transfer case with the remains of Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, into a transfer vehicle Aug. 29during a casualty return at Dover Air Force Base, Del., for the 13service members killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 26.