Fil-Am soldier killed in Iraq buried with honors

DAGUPAN CITY — Hundreds of Dagupeños turned out yesterday for the hero’s burial here of a Filipino-American soldier who was killed in Iraq last month while attempting to evacuate his wounded comrades.

US Ambassador Kristie Kenney was expected to attend the funeral rites for Staff Sergeant Richwell Doria, but cancelled her trip at the last minute for unknown reasons.

Policemen tasked to secure Kenney upon her chopper’s scheduled arrival at 7 a.m. in Bonuan Tondaligan returned to the city proper before 8 a.m., when she was supposed to have a breakfast meeting with some local officials at the city museum.

Doria, who would have turned 26 today, had his last wish to be buried in his hometown fulfilled, complete with full military honors and 21-gun salute, at the Eternal Gardens Memorial Park here. He was the only son of Rosario and Fred Doria.

Local leaders led by Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim and Ilocos regional police director Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, together with US Brig. Gen. Simeon Trombitas, led the city folk in the funeral rites.

Trombitas, commander of the US Army’s special operations command based in Korea, described Doria as "one of (my) best soldiers."

"He was my best squad leader… He held the most difficult job in the US Army… being a squad leader, he was responsible for nine other soldiers whom he saw every day…. At times he acted like a father or a brother to them…"

He added that Doria was quiet and reserved and that his sincerity and humor were infectious.

He said Doria was killed near Kirkuk last Nov. 7 during an exchange of gunfire with Iraqi insurgents.

His remains arrived in Barangay Pantal here the other day.

Doria is survived by his Japanese wife, Jasmine, and their four-month-old daughter Jada. Mother and son failed to attend the burial rites.

When Doria was barely 11 years old, he migrated to San Diego, California where he grew up under the care of his paternal grandfather and two aunts.

He graduated from Samuel F.B. Morse High School in 2000. He enlisted in the US Army in August 2000 and completed Basic and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Benning in Georgia in January 2001.

During the necrological rites at the St. John Cathedral presided over by Fr. Jim Cerezo, Doria’s former grade school classmate at the East Central Elementary School here, said, "We hear about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan in the news on television and newspapers. But now we get the shock of our lives, we become aware of the tragedy of war when one of our own becomes one of its victims."

Doria served in Iraq under the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the US Army’s 25th Infantry Division based in Hawaii.

In recognition of his valor and dedication, Doria posthumously received the Bronze Star, the fourth highest US military award for gallantry in action, as well as the Purple Heart medal.