DALTON, Ga. — Sixty-four years to the day after he landed on the beach at Normandy, France, on D-Day, Dalton native Monroe Blackwell was buried Friday with full military honors in Chattanooga National Cemetery.

Mr. Blackwell, 85, died on Tuesday.

At the funeral service here, mourners packed the pews to say good-bye to a community hero.

The mood was by turns somber and jubilant, with mourners shouting “Amen!” when the pastor asked, “Was Monroe Blackwell your friend?”

A black man born into segregation, Mr. Blackwell enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II. He spoke to this newspaper in January of the indignities of returning to the South in 1946, and being treated like a second-class citizen.

“I was pretty well upset about this, since I was in the military fighting for my country,” he told the Times Free Press.

He went on to fight in the Korean and Vietnam wars, and in 2007 was among those featured in the History Channel documentary, “A Distant Shore: African-Americans of D-Day.”

Myra Baker, a friend of Mr. Blackwell, recalls arranging a screening of the film at the Dalton Community Center.

“We encouraged everyone to come here for a movie night,” said Ms. Baker, who works at the Center. “And, the movie night was Mr. Monroe making history.”

Judy Alderman, a local historian, described him as a pivotal historic figure, mainly because of his experience as a black soldier on D-Day. In 1994, Jet magazine interviewed him about that experience. The article explained that he was restricted to unloading supplies instead of joining the infantry.

“The consensus of whites was they didn’t want blacks to get any glory, especially none on that day,” he told Jet.

But Mr. Blackwell still maintained pride in his service, wearing his still neatly fitting uniform at every chance till the end of his life.

On Veterans Day, Mr. Blackwell, a wisp of a man, put on his Army uniform and posed for photographs with area children, Ms. Alderman recalled. “Mr. Blackwell was just the finest gentleman,” she said.

Family and friends spoke of his contributions to the community. He helped build the Dalton Community Center. He engaged veterans of the Iraq War in Veterans Day events. He gave tours of the military room at the city’s Emery Center for African-American Heritage.

In 2001, Mr. Blackwell helped install a monument in Dalton honoring Martin Luther King Jr., who he said gave him a chance at first-class citizenship. Mr. Blackwell told this newspaper, just a few months before his death, “I feel like I’m an American now.”