enlarge Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Donald Buxbaum, back, consoles his grandson, William Buxbaum, and Julie Buxbaum during the burial service for Julie’s son, Justin, who was killed during his third tour of duty.

enlarge Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Justin Buxbaum’s body is taken to Chebeague Island on Wednesday.

Justin Buxbaum spent summers as a boy on Chebeague Island, going to the beach with cousins, enjoying neighborhood barbecues and playing golf with his great-grandfather on the island's nine-hole course.

On Wednesday evening, Buxbaum, a U.S. Army specialist who died on May 26 in Afghanistan from a non-combat gunshot wound to the abdomen, was buried in a family plot in the tree-lined cemetery beside Chebeague Island United Methodist Church.

Army officials are still investigating Buxbaum's death and would provide no details on the circumstances of the shooting, said Capt. Kristy Norquist, a spokeswoman.

Buxbaum grew up in Portland and South Portland. He lived most recently in South Portland, where he graduated from high school with honors in 2004. He is the third South Portland High graduate since 2001 to be killed while serving overseas. No other Maine community has lost more than two people during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Still, Chebeague Island is an appropriate resting place for the 23-year-old soldier, who was killed early in his third deployment to the war region. Buxbaum's family has spent summers on the island since the early 1900s. His grandparents moved there permanently in the 1970s to raise eight children, including his mother, Julie Buxbaum.

"It's home base for all of us," said his grandfather, Donald Buxbaum, 66, a retired ferry captain. "It's where he spent his summers, barefoot and beach walking, surrounded by family and love."

On Wednesday afternoon, the grandfather piloted the ferry that brought his grandson to Chebeague one last time. Darren Hillicoss, another ferry captain, remembered seeing Justin Buxbaum share the helm.

"He was always riding back and forth with his grandfather," Hillicoss said. "He was his co-pilot."

Buxbaum was buried in the rain on a peaceful hillside in a cemetery that includes more than 100 World War II veterans. Each soldier's grave is still decorated with an American flag from Memorial Day, the day Buxbaum was killed.

"It's very moving," said Donna Damon, a Chebeague selectwoman and family friend. "The community has been deeply affected by this. The Buxbaum family is an integral part of the community."

Fran Calder, who operates the island's taxi service, said the ferry landing was crowded with cars on Wednesday morning because so many islanders attended the funeral at Holy Cross Church in South Portland. Chebeague has about 350 year-round residents and a summer population of about 1,800.

"We're bereft," Calder said. "Our hearts go out to Julie and the whole family."

More than 250 people attended the funeral in South Portland. The pastor of the Roman Catholic church offered to host the service because it's larger than Methodist churches in South Portland. A lone bagpiper and a six-man honor guard escorted the casket into the church.

Family members and dignitaries remembered Buxbaum for his commitment to family and country, a love of Elvis that he shared with his grandfather, and a concern for children that he demonstrated as a father figure to his younger brother, William, and as a participant in the Big Brother program.

Two of his aunts, Laurie Wood of North Yarmouth and Beth Copp of Windham, read letters from his mother and grandparents.

"I will be lost without you," wrote Julie Buxbaum, who recently moved from South Portland to Georgia. "Thank you for letting me have the pleasure of being your mother."

"Where did the time go? Too soon. Too short," wrote Cheryl Buxbaum, his maternal grandmother. "Why did you come into this world thinking you needed to protect everyone?"

The Rev. Linda Brewster, pastor of the island church, described Buxbaum as a strong individual who loved and cared beyond his years.

She also spoke of his questionable teen driving skills, which he apparently overcame to be a lead driver in a road-clearing team with Company A of the 62nd...