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In Memoriam |
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In Memoriam |
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LCpl. Stephen Perez
S.A. honors son killed in Iraq
Stephen Perez came back Saturday morning to the yellow brick chapel where for years he attended services as a Catholic schoolboy. This time, he came not to worship, but to be honored.
And for this last visit, the chapel was packed to overflowing with flowers, ceremony and grief, as a crowd of more than 500 spilled out of the entrance.
His family, old school chums and neighborhood folks, even the mayor, all came to say farewell to Marine Lance Cpl. Perez, 22, who died 10 days ago in Iraq.
The April 13 gunfight with insurgents killed another Marine and wounded two dozen more. For Perez, it came on a second tour of Iraq. He had joined the corps not long after graduating from St. Anthony Catholic High School. He was due to return home in August.
Photos placed at the front of the chapel showed the various faces of Stephen Perez, from a grim-faced warrior serving on hostile ground to a carefree youth, captured in tender snapshots with his mother, Diana, and brother Kenneth.
A few yards away, his body in dark dress blues lay in an open gray coffin, watched over by a small brass crucifix. And as always at times like this, a man of the cloth tried to make sense of it and give comfort to the faithful.
"In moments like this, we might wonder about the Lord's favors, but I cannot help but believe that the Lord was with him all the time, and the Lord is present with you in your grief and sorrow," said Father Art Flores, who knew Perez as a high school student.
"In a strange way, we're here for ourselves more than for Stephen because Stephen is with God. We could even call him a modern martyr. He did what he had to do."
From the vast ocean of sadness and bewilderment that surrounded him, Flores drew hearty laughter with accounts of letters sent to him recently by Perez. Once, Flores said, he had a baker send the Marine five dozen cookies.
"You almost sank my ship," wrote Perez in the thank you note.
Another letter from the young Marine included a potent Iraqi saying that was offered for the priest for especially trying moments.
"He sent me these words in Arabic, whose meaning I cannot share here. He said use these words when the parishioners are getting on your nerves," Flores joked.
Perez had wanted to study for a teaching degree when he finished his military service, and, Flores said, he had succeeded in becoming a different kind of teacher by the time he died.
"He's teaching us about integrity, dignity and what it means to be people of conviction," he said.
After the Communion, and as the service drew to a close, San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger gave a proclamation from the city to Perez's family, thanking them for their service and sacrifice.
But first, he spoke a few words about the fallen Marine.
"Democracy and freedom are inspiring words, but they are transformed by acts, and Stephen acted on his beliefs. So, we want to honor Stephen, who has given the last full measure to his country and family," he said.
And then, after a final commendation, and the closing song, "Salve Regina," Perez's body was carried out to a gray hearse for the short trip to Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.
"It's wonderful. I never expected so many people to come," Perez's grandfather, Tony Pena, said after the service.
"I helped raise him with his grandmother. I guess he learned well, because he came out a really good guy."
The Marine's family said Perez had a promotion to corporal pending at the time of his death, but Marine officers in San Antonio and at his home base at Camp Pendleton, Calif., could not confirm he had been tapped for promotion.
Waiting outside the high school chapel was an unusual color guard holding U.S. flags, and wearing leather, tattoos and head-scarves. The members were among 150 members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a loose-knit motorcycle group that has begun attending military funerals to prevent disruptions by protesters.
"We've come from Dallas, Houston and the Valley. We're here to honor a fellow Marine who passed away, and to shield the family from any protesters," Terry Smith of San Antonio said as he waited on an idling Harley.
And then, as the caravan of rumbling cycles rolled out of the school, past a white statute of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus, the procession headed east toward the national cemetery.
There Stephen Perez, the Marine who wanted to be a teacher, was put to rest with full military honors, including presentation of the Purple Heart and the flags to his parents.
After the sounding of taps and a rifle-volley salute, friends bade Perez farewell, during a final round of the Marine Hymn played at the graveside on a harmonica.