WINSLOW – Hundreds of mourners honored Marine Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, one of the first soldiers killed in the war with Iraq, during an emotional memorial service Saturday morning in Winslow.

Much of the ceremony was scripted, but mourners heard the poignant last words Aubin wrote in a letter delivered that morning to his mother, Nancy Chamberlain.

“I wanted to thank you for everything over the years,” Rev. Paul Plante read from the letter. “You always tried your best to put us first at your expense. I wish it had worked out that I was closer to home with your grandkids. … Hopefully, I will be home soon now that we are getting started.”

Aubin, 36, grew up in Skowhegan, but his mother now lives in Winslow, where the service was held at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church.

More than 700 people filled the church, including dignitaries, former high school classmates and Aubin’s large family. Chamberlain is the oldest of 14 children and the extended family includes 33 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.

Gov. John E. Baldacci, U.S. Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan M. Collins, U.S. Reps. Tom Allen and Michael Michaud attended, as well as Melissa Derbyshire of Port Clyde, mother of Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, who died in the same helicopter crash that claimed Aubin. At the close of the Mass, the two mothers linked arms and left the church together.

The emotional service was carefully scripted but the reading of Aubin’s final letter was unexpected – it had been hand-delivered to Chamberlain just that morning by a postal worker. It had been written March 18, only two days before the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter that Aubin was piloting crashed nine miles from the Kuwait border, killing four U.S. Marines and eight British Marines.

During his homily, Plante honored the soldier’s patriotism by stressing that Aubin’s “life was not taken. It was given.”

“May he inspire us to be more generous with the gift of ourselves,” Plante said.

During the memorial, Aubin received full military honors. Marines from Massachusetts, New Hampshire and locally from Topsham joined in a rifle salute and flag detail.

After the flag was unfolded, a 21-gun salute resounded from outside the church followed by the playing of Taps.

The Marines refolded the flag and presented it to Maj. Chris Ross, who walked to the front pew where Chamberlain was sitting with Aubin’s stepfather. Ross knelt before her and presented the flag. Chamberlain stood and cradled the flag against her chest.

Chamberlain’s brother, Dennis Willette, spoke during the ceremony and described Aubin as a man of honesty and integrity who “gave 100 percent-plus in everything he did.”

An uncle, Peter, said Aubin’s love of flying was evident early when, as a teenager, he would “give his cousins airplane rides to bed” when baby-sitting them.

Aubin entered the Marines straight out of Skowhegan Area High School. After four years of service, he returned home to earn an associate’s degree in applied science from Southern Maine Technical College and a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Southern Maine. He re-enlisted to follow his lifelong dream of becoming a pilot. He was stationed in Yuma, Ariz., instructing pilots on night-flying before he was deployed.

The service ended with an emotional singing of “Let There Be Peace” and a final hymn that was sung in French.

Mourners leaving the service passed under a giant American flag suspended from two Winslow firetrucks as an honor guard of firefighters stood along the roadside.

At a reception at the Waterville Armory, Chamberlain wore her son’s pilot wings and button bearing his image.

“He was such a humanitarian,” she said. “He loved people. His last words were: ‘Thanks, mom.'”

Chamberlain said she hasn’t followed televised war coverage or dwelled on the helicopter crash, which is still under investigation. She said she only wants American troops to come home soon, and to remember her son.

“We should be proud of him,” she said. “Our country has really lost a patriot.”

Chamberlain will head next to the San Diego area for a final memorial service and to reunite with her daughter-in-law, Rhonda, and grandchildren Alicia, 10, and Nathan, 7.

Aubin will be buried in California, his wife’s home state.