Thanks, SandRat. It's a nice tribute. An honor for the recipient. A noble example to follow.
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SIERRA VISTA - A scholarship to honor the memory of a Buena High School graduate who was killed in action in Iraq has been established by a anonymous donor at Cochise College.
College Spokeswoman Denise Merkel said the $1,000 a year stipend is named the Sgt. M. Matthew Merila Memorial Scholarship.
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Farewell to a soldier, a friend; Merila's service to his nation, others celebrated on Monday
Herald/Review
Susan Merila weeps Monday afternoon while retired Chaplin (Col.) Juan Loya gives his memorial message during a service for her son, Sgt. Michael M. Merila, at the Main Post Chapel on Fort Huachuca. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review)
FORT HUACHUCA - A cold rain fell Monday, making the Main Post Chapel darker as more than 150 people waited for the arrival of the body of Sgt. Michael Matthew Merila.
While music played, the sound of soldiers could be heard marching in the chapel's foyer, as members of the Fort Huachuca Select Honor Guard slowly brought Merila into the sanctuary.
Tears started to flow as audible crying echoed in the chapel greeting the casket holding the body of a soldier who was killed in action in Iraq one day before his 24th birthday.
Merila, a 1998 graduate of Buena High School, was a close friend to many of the young people who attended the memorial service. Once he became a friend, he was always a friend, many of them said after the service.
It was friendship of a different kind that led Merila's deployment to Iraq.
He could have transferred to another unit. But he declined, saying he wanted to go with the soldiers he had trained with as part of a Stryker Brigade at Fort Lewis, Wash.
"He was due to rotate to another unit, but he couldn't abandon the soldiers he served with," Sgt. Maj. Jerry Gatton said about Merila.
Merila just wasn't a paralegal, said Gatton, who is the paralegal sergeant major of I Corps and Fort Lewis.
Calling him one of the finest soldiers he had met in his 19 years of service, Gatton spoke to Merila's family sitting in the front pew of the chapel.
Merila ended his basic training as one of the top 2 percent in his class and went on to become the distinguished graduate in his paralegal course.
When he arrived at Fort Lewis, "he drew people to him," Gatton said.
It was his dedication to the Army and his unit that ended up with Merila "dying selflessly, serving his country," Gatton said.
His comments caused a number of Merila's friends to cry loudly, something that would happen many times during the service.
Merila's mother Susan, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who served at Fort Huachuca, silently wept during the service.
The soldier's father, Michael, a retired Army chief warrant officer, was nearby and would occasionally dab his eyes to stem the flow of tears.
The soldier also is survived by two sisters, Lia and Angi, and brother, Kevin.
At the service, high-ranking Army leaders, including Maj. Gen. Michael Marchand, the deputy judge advocate for the Army, were in attendance.
Merila went to Iraq as a specialist. Selected for promotion to sergeant before his death, he was posthumously given that rank on Friday.
Retired Army Chaplain (Col.) Juan Loya came from his pastoral work at the Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco, Texas, at the behest of Merila's mother.
In his memorial message, Loya said it was a steady voice message he received from the soldier's mother, saying she had a spiritual connection with him and wanted the former post chaplain at Fort Huachuca to officiate at the memorial ceremony.
Loya said the mother's voice cracked once when she said, "You see, my son was killed in Iraq."
It was more than the death of another soldier in Iraq that concerned Loya. The death of any soldier leaves a void in the family's life, as well as in an Army family, which Merila was a major part of, the retired chaplain said.
"Soldiers are not just statistics," Loya said.
People such as Merila go forward with their profound patriotic duty, loving God and country, Loya said.
But Monday's memorial service was not a celebration of death, but rather of remembering Merila's life, he said.
The chaplain was able to bring momentary laughter in the chapel as he talked about Merila's times as a jokester. Even the soldier's family smiled as Loya talked about Merila's old car, which Loya said "was kept together by the many stickers on it."
The soldier also was no gourmet. Chips and ketchup were about the only things he had in his refrigerator, Loya said, as a burst of laugher came from many of Merila's friends.
Intertwining the 23rd Psalm in his message, the former Army chaplain said it is difficult to lose a son. King David lost a son and grieved, as Merila's family is now doing. But it was God's loss of his son, Christ, that was the biggest sacrifice, he said.
But in the 23rd Psalm and through the death of Christ, there is a promise of eternal life beside still and refreshing water. That is what is important to remember that in the future all who knew the soldier will once again be reunited with him, Loya said.
"Life is just a glimpse compared to eternity," he said.
What is important is for Merila's family and friends to keep his memory alive, Loya said.
Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano also spoke at the service.
"Sgt. Merila was a tremendous soldier who had a bright future in the Army," he said.
With 10,000 soldiers of Soriano's organization deployed to Iraq, the death of any of them "rips at your heart," said the general who commands I Corps and Fort Lewis.
Noting he would present the parents American flags and two posthumous decorations - The Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals - the general said they are given on behalf of a grateful nation.
Merila died on Feb. 16 between Mosul and Tall Afar, Iraq, when an improvised roadside bomb went off as a convoy he was in was passing. He died in a medical evacuation helicopter as he was being flown to an Army Combat Support Hospital at the Mosul Airport.
He had been part of the convoy that took soldiers from his unit to Mosul for flights out of the country for leave and was returning to his base camp at Tall Afar bringing back mail and other items.
The service ended with firing of a 21-rifle salute, followed by the playing of the 24-mournful notes of taps, which re-opened the floodgates of tears, as well as sobbing from family and friends.
The flag that covered Merila's coffin was taken off and folded into a triangle. Another flag was then put on the casket and after a short period taken off and folded. One was presented to Merila's mother, and the other to the soldier's father.
Members of the honor guard then took the wooden casket without a flag on it out of the chapel as people respectfully bowed their heads as the coffin passed their pews.
Merila's friends spoke after the service.
Jeff Kawakami said many who attended the service were close friends of the soldier, who he said was a person who would help anyone.
Jay Escober said Merila was the leader of the group and had nicknames such as "Mystic Mike or Magical Mike."
Many of his friends said they have to sort through a state of denial that Merila is dead. Kawakami and Escober almost used the same words saying they refuse to believe he is gone.
Now that local friends have had the opportunity to say farewell to Merila, his Army family at Fort Lewis will do the same at a memorial service on Wednesday.
SENIOR REPORTER Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
~ Sgt. Michael Matthew Merila ~
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