Friday, January 30, 2009

GI Gets Final Wish of Arlington Honors

Image: Folding the flag by Air Force color guard, Arlington National Cemetery.
Photo from Bugle Call

From Military.com:

Four days before his death, Spc. Joseph M. Hernandez sent his wife a prophetic text message.

If he were to die in Afghanistan, he wanted her to make sure he would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. And the former Old Guard soldier wanted his comrades in 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company to conduct the ceremony.

"Things were pretty rough over there and he told me to that it was very important to him that it be done in a certain way," his wife, Alison, said in a Jan. 26 interview with Military.com.

The Indiana native was granted his wish and then some when he became the first junior enlisted soldier to receive full military honors Jan. 23 under a new Defense Department policy.

Hernandez, 24, of Hammond, Ind., died Jan. 9 in Afghanistan's Zabul province after a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle, according to the Pentagon. He left behind two young sons.

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