Colorado Springs - The black-and- white photograph that rested on an easel in the front of Woodmen Valley Chapel on Wednesday night showed Army Capt. Ian Weikel as a man in love.

He's cradling his infant son, Jonathan, looking warmly into the baby's face.

"What do you see in this photograph?" the Rev. Kevin Feldotto asked the more than 800 people gathered in the church. "I see a man who is strong. What else do we see in this photo? Tenderness. Kindness. Compassion. I see unfailing love. I see the eyes of a father that deeply loves his child - a father that would do anything for that one he loves."

Weikel, 31, cherished each moment he spent with the boy he called JT, who was born in August, before he headed for his second tour in Iraq.

He had been in Iraq about 100 days when the Colorado Springs native died April 18 when a roadside bomb exploded under his vehicle.

Before Wednesday's two-hour memorial service, 150 leather-clad bikers - each holding large American flags - lined Woodmen Road outside the church in tribute to the fallen soldier. A sound system on a candy-apple-red Harley-Davidson blared "Glory, Glory Hallelujah."

A 1997 West Point graduate and a 1993 graduate of Fountain-Fort Carson High School, Weikel is survived by his wife, Wendy, also a West Point grad, his son, parents Dave and Beth Weikel and a brother, Chad Weikel.

During the service, Chad Weikel recalled a time when he and his brother were young. Their father told them to pick up their toys, and Ian split the room in half - to divide the work. Ian picked up toys on his half of the room, but Chad didn't clean his side. He played with Legos instead. When their father inspected and saw the room was only half-cleaned, Ian took the spanking for his brother.

"Ian never let me down," Chad Weikel said. "He was a caring, wise, determined competitor, a supportive and loving older brother. Ian took a whooping for me that day, and it was mine, I deserved it, but he took my place, just as he did last week."

Before he died, Weikel and other soldiers had encouraged 850-AM KOA personality Steffan Tubbs to collect soccer balls for Iraqi children. Tubbs reported from Iraq in March and spent two days with Weikel's "ghost troop."

"When I met Ian Weikel, he was all smiles, instantly friendly. He seemed so happy to see someone who actually knew where the Garden of the Gods actually was located," Tubbs said. "We shared laughs, we shared stories. ... We made plans to get our families together for a Rockies game when he got back to Colorado and just enjoy a few innings out in the Rockpile.

"Ian the person, as you all know, was immediately likable, personable, honorable," Tubbs said. "Ian the soldier was professional, competent, well-trained and very likable in that capacity as well."

In an e-mail to Tubbs on April 1, Weikel wrote, "I miss skiing at A-Basin or Breck until you can barely move. I miss hiking and seeing the view on a clear day from one of the Fourteeners or sprinting down because you got a late start up. I don't miss the drive from the KS border to about Limon. ... I miss the Tattered Cover. ... It'll be one of my first stops when I visit Colorado when I get back. I really, really, really miss Fat Tire and Laughing Lab (beers) ... I mean really!"

Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com.