Body Of Soldier Missing Since May 2007 Comes Home
BY DAN MILLER

Photos Dan Miller/DMD Images Soldiers who served in Iraq with Sergeant Alex Jimenez carried his flag draped coffin to the memorial service held at the Rivera Funeral Home in Corona on July 31.

On Thursday, July 31, the body of Sergeant Alex Jimenez, a soldier who had been missing for more than a year in Iraq, was returned to Queens to a hero's welcome in Corona. Jimenez disappeared with two fellow soldiers during an ambush on May 20 2007, when on patrol in Iraq. His was the last of the three missing servicemen's bodies to be recovered.

As Jimenez' family and close friends and elected officials marched alongside, hundreds of area residents lined the streets to view the hearse carrying his body through the streets of Corona. A motorcade led by six motorcycles traveled from the corner of 114th street and 37th Avenue to the Rivera Funeral Home at 37th Avenue and 104th Street.

The coffin was carried inside the Rivera Funeral Home by soldiers who served with Jimenez in Iraq for a memorial service as Jimenez' mother, Maria Duran, his wife, Yaderlin Jimenez, family and friends followed.

City Councilmember Hiram Monserrate, Assemblymember Jose Peralta and state Senator John Sabini marched with the family and friends of Sergeant Alex Jimenez.

City Councilmember Hiram Monserrate, who marched with the family and who has been very supportive throughout their ordeal, said: "We have been waiting for well over a year, hoping and praying while he was missing in action. Now his remains have been found and he will be brought to Corona, to his hometown. We are all very saddened, but there is a degree of closure now. We know that Alex is coming back home."

State Senator John Sabini added, "Maria had a long wait to find out the results of Alex's disappearance. And the unfortunate result is that he has passed on. But at least she has some closure now. She can now celebrate his life, rather than his death. That is more fitting."

Following the memorial service Jimenez' widow, Yaderlin, said, "It has been very distressing over the past year and three months that we had been waiting for him. And now we are at peace to know that he is at peace."

Family and friends wait with Maria Duran, mother of slain Sergeant Alex Jimenez to enter the funeral home where Jimenez' memorial service was held on Thursday July 31, and where he was waked until his burial on Saturday August 2 on Long Island.

Assemblymember Jose Peralta (39th AD), standing in front of the Rivera Funeral Home at Sgt. Gomez Place, said, "People now see the grim reality of what is happening with this unnecessary war. We are spending billions of dollars in this war and the ultimate result is that our soldiers are coming home in black coffins."

Family and friends visited at the funeral home for two days until the funeral at Our Lady of Sorrow Roman Catholic Church on Saturday, August 2.

Following the memorial service, Jimenez was buried at National Cemetery in Farmingdale, Long Island.

Maria Duran, mother of Sergeant Alex Jimenez, marched with the community in honor of her son.