FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The retired soldier from the North Country who was killed in last week's horrific Midland, Texas, crash between a freight train and parade floats will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Sgt. Maj. Lawrence Boivin, 47, grew up in North Stratford and survived tours of duty in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan. He was wounded by a grenade attack in Iraq in 2004, was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart and retired after 24 years of service.

Although the date for Boivin's burial has not yet been set, calling hours will be tonight from 5 to 8 p.m. at Rogers & Breece Funeral Home in Fayetteville.

Much of the family, including Boivin's parents, Leonce and Lucette Boivin, have lived in Fayetteville for the past seven years, Leonce Boivin said.

A memorial service with full military honors will take place Wednesday at the U.S. Army Post in Ft. Bragg, N.C., a funeral home spokesman said Monday.

Boivin - a 1983 Stratford Public School graduate - was one of four previously wounded military veterans killed Thursday in Midland as they rode on flatbed trailers that were hit by a fast-moving Union Pacific freight train at a railroad crossing.

They were headed for a ceremony scheduled to honor their service to the nation.

Seventeen others, including servicemen's family members, were injured. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Witnesses at the scene told reporters that Boivin was one of two servicemen whose final acts were to push their wives off the float and to safety as the train struck.

Boivin's wife, Angela, was injured, but survived.

She was reported to be in shock following the crash.

A family spokesman in Fayetteville Monday declined to comment on her condition.

bhookway@newstote.com