DOVER — A decorated U.S. Air Force combat veteran and native son who died in a motorcycle crash in North Carolina last weekend will be buried in his hometown today.

Staff Sgt. Brandon J. Cullen-Towle will be laid to rest in Pine Hill Cemetery after an 11 a.m. funeral service at Tasker Funeral Home. A celebration of his life will follow at Kelley's Row, 421 Central Ave., at 1 p.m.

According to his published obituary, Cullen-Towle, 25, was a member of an elite Special Operations Forces Tactical Air Control Party, assigned to the 21st Special Tactics Squadron at Pope Field, N.C. He was killed on Aug. 25 when his motorcycle crashed in Spring Lake, N.C.

Cullen-Towle had served three combat tours in Afghanistan and was awarded the Purple Heart for his actions when his forward operating base in that country came under attack in January 2011.

He was married to his high school sweetheart, Marlena Cullen-Towle, and was the son of Laura Towle of Dover and Brad Cullen of Farmington. Family members also include two sisters, a brother, his stepfather and grandparents.

Cullen-Towle grew up playing sports and riding dirt bikes in his native city. He was a 2005 graduate of Dover High School, where friends and family held a remembrance ceremony Friday, releasing glowing paper lanterns into the night sky.

And during calling hours yesterday at Tasker Funeral Home, loved ones remembered the young man with the brilliant smile and generous nature.

Ryan Colbath, 27, of Dover, who wore his cousin's dog tags, had fond memories of riding dirt bikes together when they were younger. “I was one of his close friends,” said Colbath, who graduated from Dover High School three years before his cousin.

The two kept in touch even while Cullen-Towle was away on his three deployments. Colbath said he was stunned when he heard about his cousin's accident. “It's tough,” he said.

“I was more afraid of him being over there (in Afghanistan) than here,” he said.

U.S. Air Force Capt. Kevin Alley, who served with Cullen-Towle in a Tactical Air Control Party (TACP), said fellow airmen from the 14th Air Support Operations Squadron were proud to fly up from North Carolina to pay their respects.

“He was our brother,” Alley said, adding they recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan.

Another relative of Cullen-Towle, Jerry Beaudette of South Berwick, Maine, said his death was a shock, especially since he “was a young fellow.”

Beaudette, who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and in the U.S. Air Force Reserve during the Gulf War, said he appreciated seeing Brandon's comrades Saturday. “I have to take my hat off to these guys today,” he said, adding that Brandon did “great things for his country.”

Caitlyn Ochs, 25, of Nashua, who graduated with Cullen-Towle from Dover High, said the news of his death came as a shock. She recalls sneaking out at night to snowmobile with her friend, being thrown into snowbanks by him and going to the junior prom with him. “He was actually my best friend's prom date, but she stood him up,” she said.

Ochs said she will always remember how he helped name her 8-month-old son, Ryder, who accompanied her Saturday.

On a base in Afghanistan on Jan. 11, 2011, Cullen-Towle suffered a leg injury when an explosion hit the gym where he and others were working out. He managed to grab his Afghan interpreter and get him safely to a bunker, according to news stories published on the Air Force website.

Minutes after medics treated his wounds, Cullen-Towle ran to the base's tactical operations center and began calling in airstrikes on the enemy position.

Later that month, the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, awarded Cullen-Towle the Purple Heart at a ceremony at Bagram Airfield.

According to the published reports, the airman said the ceremony was about more than him. “I think it's a good day to recognize some of our fallen brothers,” he said.

Members of the Patriot Guard Riders — Post 8, Chapter 19 — provided a color guard along Central Avenue during the visiting hours yesterday. The group also will provide an escort during funeral and burial services today.

Bobby Broneske of Londonderry, state captain of the Patriot Guard Riders, said the group attends the funeral of every service member “because they deserve no less.”

“And the family needs to know that their loved one will not be forgotten,” he said.

A Kansas hate group that calls itself the Westboro Baptist Church announced plans to picket at the funerals of Cullen-Towle and seven other service members who died recently. The U.S. Supreme Court last year ruled, 8-1, that the group's right to such protests is protected under the First Amendment.

Dover police Sgt. William Malsbury said his department is aware of the Kansas group's announcement. “If any members of that organization do show up to protest, we are prepared for that at the Dover Police Department, and our intent is to have a peaceful and safe event,” he said.

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John Quinn may be reached at jquinn@newstote.com.