Elder L. Tom Perry told family and friends of Army Maj. Stephen Mark Badger, a Church member who was killed Oct. 27 in a sniper shooting at Fort Bragg, N.C., that their knowledge of the gospel will sustain them during difficult times ahead.

"We have the comforting assurance that he has now gone ahead to prepare a place for each of us to follow," Elder Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve said during funeral services Nov. 2. The funeral was held in the Colonial Hills 2nd Ward, Salt Lake Hillside Stake, the ward in which Brother Badger grew up.The intelligence officer and paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, called an American hero, is said to have run toward the gunfire in an attempt to capture the sniper - who injured 18 other soldiers.

In his funeral address, Elder Perry read a letter from the First Presidency, expressing sympathy to Brother Badger's wife, Diane, as well as other family members.

"Brother Badger served his country with pride and dignity and died courageously," Elder Perry read from the letter.

The letter described the father of four children as "a rare individual" who was both brave and gentle, and acknowledged, with gratitude, his Church service in the high priests group, in the Sunday School and as a full-time missionary in Italy. "He was a unique kind of hero. His commitment to his family, country and church was a standard of excellence," the letter said.

"Brother Badger has now returned home to our Father in Heaven where he will continue to serve," Elder Perry went on, reading from the letter. "There he awaits a glorious reunion with those he has left behind."

After Elder Perry finished reading the letter, which was signed by President Gordon B. Hinckley, President Thomas S. Monson and President James E. Faust, he gave it to Sister Badger.

"In the times you need some extra help," Elder Perry told family members, "take it out and read it, knowing that we are praying for you - for your comfort, for your faith, for your determination to carry on the way your husband and father would like you to carry on."

Brother Badger, said Elder Perry, "has completed his life probation. He is ready to go forward into the eternities ahead. If we are to be with him then we must qualify as he has qualified."

Elder Perry then bore his testimony. "God lives. We are his children. We are part of an eternal family that has always existed and will always exist. We have no fear about the future. We have faith that through His Son's atoning sacrifice we have the assurance of immortality."

During the funeral service, attended by about 400 people, family members and a friend described Brother Badger as someone who loved a new challenge, loved the outdoors and loved serving his country.

His wife said she is comforted by knowing her husband "lived his life in such a way that they will be able to be together again."

"I don't think he could have thought of a better honor than to give his life for his fellow soldiers," she added.

Three days earlier, about 600 soldiers crowded the division chapel at Fort Bragg for a memorial service, while another 430 attended a funeral at a LDS chapel in Fayetteville, N.C.

Other members of the 82nd Airborne Division and a honor guard of Utah Highway Patrol troopers escorted the body of Brother Badger to Holden, Utah, where he was buried next to his grandfather.