Funeral Held For Long-Missing U.S. Soldier

The city that hoped for the best but learned the worst showed its respect Saturday for Army Staff Sgt. Alex Jimenez, whose body was recently recovered in Iraq 14 months after he was captured.

More than 100 "Patriot Rider" motorcyclists rumbled up to St. Mary of the Assumption Church 90 minutes before the funeral Mass. Friends, relatives and people who never met Jimenez assembled outside the soaring granite church, where Jimenez received his First Communion. Jimenez's family emigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic.

A procession wound through city streets toward the church with two Clydesdale horses pulling a carriage bearing Jimenez's flag-draped casket. Members of the 10th Mountain Division provided an Honor Guard.

The 25-year-old Jimenez and two fellow members of the 10th Mountain Division were captured during an ambush about 20 miles south of Baghdad. The other two soldiers also were found dead.

Carmen Sanchez recalled attending a vigil at the same church during the more than yearlong wait for word of Jimenez's fate.

"His parents, and all of us, expected him to come home - alive, especially when the news showed the release of the hostages in Colombia from 2003. Everyone had hope," said Sanchez, 34, of Salem.

Paul Tucker, a former Marine from Lynn, was among a half-dozen motorcycle-riding members of "The Honorable Few," an honor guard associated with the Marine Corps League.

Asked why he was at the funeral, Tucker's back stiffened before he replied, "Why take time to serve your country and make the ultimate sacrifice? Wouldn't be anywhere but here."

Among those also attending the funeral were Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray. U.S. Sen. John Kerry, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War who helped Jimenez's wife, an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic facing deportation, remain in the country after his death, was among those who attended a wake Friday evening.