john.cramer@roanoke.com 981-3140

On the eve of America's birthday - and his departure for the war on terrorism - a young "Bedford boy" soldier wedded his sweetheart Saturday in an old church below the Peaks of Otter.

"We love each other and we're best friends and, well, we just decided we couldn't wait," said Spc. Josh Knowles, 24, a Virginia Army National Guardsmen.

Knowles is among 200 guardsmen from central and Southwest Virginia who are expected to ship out for Afghanistan soon as part of the 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division.

After training for four months, the soldiers were given a week off before departing for an 18-month tour of duty in the central Asian nation as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The unit includes a dozen Company A soldiers from Bedford and Bedford County, whose Bedford boys forebears led the D-Day invasion in World War II.

On a hot, hazy day, Knowles and his fiancee, Christina Hutchins, 23, exchanged vows at Laurel Grove Presbyterian, a small church surrounded by evergreens and apple orchards in the Bedford County countryside. The church's roots go back to the 1880s.

The lanky soldier, who wore a black tuxedo rather than his Army dress uniform, waited nervously at the altar. His aunt Lori Spickard had pinned a white carnation onto his lapel.

"I can't believe it," she said, crying. "They grow up so fast."

Hutchins was dressed in a long, white gown with a silver tiara in her red hair. She beamed as she walked down an aisle that had been scattered with rose petals by her 3-year-old daughter, Savannah.

With three dozen people in the pews, the Rev. Larry Mills spoke with sunlight beaming through a stained-glass image of Jesus: "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in this place together ..."

At the end, the bride cried as the preacher sang - "Some say love, it is a river ..." - and played a digital soprano saxophone with several other musicians accompanying him.

And then it was done - "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Knowles," Mills said - and the guests applauded and photographs were taken and everyone went to the Bedford Armory for a reception with the flags of the Allied Nations in World War II hanging from the rafters.

Knowles, a plumber, and his bride, a waitress, plan to stay in Bedford County when he returns.

He hugged his brother, Jason, 29, a Marine staff sergeant, who will ship out for Iraq in February.

"I think he'll do fine," said Jason Knowles, a combat veteran. "He'll keep his head down."

"I cry a lot," the bride said. "He's scared to go [to Afghanistan]. He's my best friend. It's going to be lonely not having him around."

The groom's parents, Carolyn and Ed Knowles, enjoyed having their sons together for the last time for a long while. They were proud but worried.

"Somebody has to go," Carolyn Knowles said. "Who knows what the world would be like if we didn't go?"

They watched as Savannah and the other children ran in circles, chattered happily and popped the green and white balloons scattered on the armory floor.

Ed Knowles, a forklift mechanic, said he raised his sons with a disciplined but loving hand. After a while, he got tears in his eyes.

"It's in God's hands," he said. "That's all."