LAKEPORT — Hundreds of East Texans stood in silent tribute Saturday as a Tatum family grieved over the flag-draped casket of a fallen loved one.

Relatives and supporters gathered at the East Texas Regional Airport to meet the body of Alejandro “Alex” Granado III, a Special Forces communications sergeant who was killed a week earlier in eastern Afghanistan. He was 42.

Granado arrived by chartered plane on a warm, clear August morning. The plane landed smoothly, and the only sound among the hundreds on hand was a mechanical hum as the cargo door lifted open.

“We’re all hoping he could just walk out,” said family friend Linda Rodriguez, cutting the silence.

Rodriguez and other friends and family members had been with Granado earlier this summer, she said, when he came home for three weeks before leaving for a mission in Afghanistan.

During a barbecue at his parents’ house, he predicted he would not return from the mission, according to Rodriguez and others who were there.

“He wasn’t one for showing emotions, but he did that day,” she said. “Tears were running down his eyes. I thought, ‘Why in the world is he crying?’ He knew it, felt it.”

Granado was among three U.S. Army Special Forces National Guard soldiers who were killed this past Sunday when their patrol vehicle snagged a wire attached to a homemade bomb, according to a military statement.

Nearly a week after his death, around two dozen of Granado’s family members rushed toward Granado’s casket Saturday after it had been removed from the plane. Some knelt beside it, touching the American flag pulled tightly over it, while others locked arms and cried.

A sister, Dionicia Cruz, was later said to be well after collapsing and being carried away during the emotional reunion.

The procession

About 140 members of the motorcycle service organization the Patriot Guard Riders joined the procession escorting Granado’s remains to Jimerson-Lipsey Funeral Home in Carthage.

“We respect the family and honor the fallen,” said Mike Eubank, the Patriot Guard ride captain. “This is something we’re passionate about. We’re just not going to let this war be forgotten. These warriors’ lives are not going to be taken in obscurity.”

The procession passed through Tatum, where Granado had been a track star before graduating from high school in 1986. Dozens of Tatum residents lined the streets with American flags, Tatum Eagles banners and signs that read “We love you Alex” and “Thank you Alex.”

At the funeral home, family members and others approached Granado’s coffin to kneel and pray over it. After taking her turn, Granado’s mother, Rosalinda, held his framed portrait and sobbed. Granado’s father, Alejandro Jr., helped her back to her seat, then leaned against a chapel wall and wiped his eyes with a handkerchief.

A Mass for Granado will be celebrated at 3:30 p.m. Monday at St. William of Vercelli Catholic Church in Carthage.

Graveside services will follow in Tatum Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Brother’s perspective

Granado’s younger brother, Jose Granado, said he had received an e-mail from his brother when he arrived in Afghanistan. Another letter had been promised as soon as he reached his position, but he died too soon.

“I never heard from him again,” he said.

“Every good quality anyone could possess, he possessed it,” the brother continued. “Honest, caring, loving, but yet he could be aggressive if he needed in order to protect his family and his country.”

Jose Granado followed his brother into the military, choosing the Marines, however, instead of his brother’s Army. Jose Granado is scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan in October.

“We love our freedom, right? We love our country,” he said. “For those who can’t fight, we step up for them. I’m sure he did it so his sisters, mother, sons and daughter didn’t have to fight.”

Jose Granado, 35, said the outpouring of support would help his family through the difficult time.

In his brother’s 23-year military career, he fought in Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, doing more for his country than most people do in a lifetime, his brother said.

“We use the title hero very loosely, but guys that go and pay the ultimate sacrifice, they are heroes,” he said. “He’s given the title hero a different meaning.”

Published August 9, 2009, in the Longview News-Journal