anyone who has read the watchmen comic?

I'll agree with what the previous answers have said, but let me see if I can add a few thoughts...

The funeral scene is used to sort-of tie together the Comedian's life as viewed by all of his "friends." We see it through Sally's point of view, Ozymandias,' Dr. Manhattan's, and finally Night Owl's. It could generally be said that funerals are not really about the deceased, but about those who remember him. To me, the flashback scenes from the funeral really point out the conflicted nature of the Comedian and his relationships with the other watchmen. On the one hand, we was somewhat of an American hero. He fought his whole life for his country, and we see him laid to rest with a folded American flag on his grave.
On the other hand, he's also sadistic and a rapist and seems to take a little bit too much pleasure in what he does. As the funeral scene progresses, I think what we see is all of his past acquaintances struggling to reconcile the two sides. All of them have reason to hate him, but nobody actually seems to. Those are some of my thoughts anyway, but its been a while since I read it.

well since, The Comedian was dead in the present time frame of the story, the flashbacks allows the readers to understand the fallen hero. The Comedian is as much part of the Watchmen and was an integral part of the story, even though he was dead at the beginning; its gives that contrast of the fallen vs the living, that even though he was dead he was given the opportunity to live in the book.

I guess that's the general idea of the flashbacks. Particularly the Vietnam flashback, he was brutal and careless of his actions and his viewpoint of the war was warped in his mind, all of which are foreshadowing the later parts of the book about why he was acting the way he was. What does he know the we don't know? Apparently we find out that his disillusionment was caused by a discovery (of Adrian's doing), which inflicted him greatly and changed his attitude.

Like B.G. said, it gives you a better glimpse into the psyche of The Comedian. To give you a better understanding of what kind of person he was.

No, Watchen comic is for the mature readers only.

I don't know, but I read the book.