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Military
Times:
 Soldier
loved animals, sons
The Associated
Press
Joseph M. Hernandez
was an animal lover. He once saw a dog fall through a frozen
lake, so he jumped in and saved it. At one point, he and his
wife shared a two-bedroom apartment with four cats and three
dogs.
Hernandez, 24, of
Hammond, Ind., died Jan. 9 of wounds suffered when a bomb
detonated near his vehicle in Jaldak, Afghanistan. He was
assigned to Hohenfels, Germany.
He studied
mechanical engineering and biology at Purdue University for
two years. In 2002, he surprised his friends and family when
he announced he was joining the Army.
“He said it was
something he felt he had to do,” said his wife, Alison. “He
never had anything bad to say about the military. He just
decided to join. He felt it was his duty.”
Hernandez also is
survived by his sons, Jacob, 2, and Noah, 9 months.
He enjoyed working
on old cars and teaching his older son how to fly mini model
airplanes. When Hernandez was younger, he badly wanted to
play piano. The family finally bought one, and he started
playing it as it was being carried into the house. His mother
asked him how he knew to play, and he said he had been
practicing on paper.
 Additional
Websites:
Hammond soldier
dies in Afghanistan
January 13, 2009
By Christin Nance Lazerus
Courtesy of the (Indiana) Post-Tribune
Alison Hernandez
usually received a call from her husband, Hammond native
Spcecialist Joseph M. Hernandez, every two days while he was
stationed in Afghanistan.
Hernandez was
waiting for him to contact her on Friday, but she felt
something wasn't right. "My stomach hurt. I wasn't feeling
well. I broke down and cried to my dad, and said 'I need my
husband'," she said. That night, Army representatives
delivered the solemn news to her that Joseph was killed
earlier in the day in a roadside bomb attack.
Major Brian M.
Mescall, 33, of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and Specialist Jason
R. Parsons, 24, of Lenoir, North Carolina, also died when an
improvised explosive device detonated near their armored
Humvee in Jaldak, Afghanistan.
Hernandez, 24, is
survived by his wife and two sons -- Jacob, 2 , and Noah, 9
months. He is also survived by his parents, Elva Hernandez and
Jessie Hernandez; his two brothers, Jesse and Jason Hernandez;
and other relatives.
Specialist
Hernandez was recalled as a dedicated father and husband and
someone who loved cars, music and animals. Hernandez joined
the Army in 2005 and he was in Afghanistan for the past 6
months. He was stationed in Hohenfels, Germany, as part of the
1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, and he lived in military
housing there with his family. Alison and the boys traveled
back to Northwest Indiana for the holidays, and Joseph was
scheduled to join them in early March.
Hernandez played
soccer for four years at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago,
and he boxed at Whiting Boxing Club. He was an altar boy and
sang in the choir at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in the
Hessville section of Hammond. Alice Gordon, Alison's
grandmother, considered Joseph as one of her grandchildren.
"I loved him dearly and he spent a lot of time at my house,"
Gordon said. Hernandez attended Holy Cross, then he entered
the mechanical engineering and biology programs at Purdue
University in West Lafayette. Alison Hernandez said that he
adopted four cats and three dogs while he was working at the
local humane society, including a drowning dog that he saved.
He enjoyed working
on old cars and teaching his older son how to fly mini model
airplanes.
His wife said she
keeps expecting Joseph to text her or get word that it's all a
mistake.
"You plan your life
and you just have all these things that you want to do and you
don't have a chance to do them any more," Alison Hernandez
said. "I talked to him on Wednesday, and he told me
everything was fine, but he also was telling me all of his
plans that he wanted to do when he got back." He planned on
taking his family to a Chicago Cubs preseason game and eating
at Gino's East. "He was my soul mate," Alison Hernandez
said.
The family has not
finalized the exact date and time of the funeral services. The
funeral service will be conducted at Our Lady of Perpetual
Help and Hernandez will be buried at Arlington National
Cemetery on January 23, 2009.
Hernandez used to
serve in the Old Guard, which presided at funerals in
Arlington.
Full Military
Honors Honor a Soldier's Full Sacrifice
First Enlisted Soldier Buried Under New Arlington Policy
By Mark Berman
Courtesy of The Washington Post
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Joseph M.
Hernandez, 24, was a family man with a wife and two young
sons. But he was also an Army man and a soldier. Yesterday, he
became the first enlisted soldier to be buried at Arlington
National Cemetery under a new policy that allows those killed
in action full military honors.
"He said it was
something he felt he had to do," his wife, Alison Hernandez,
22, told the Chicago Tribune last week about his military
service. "He never had anything bad to say about the military.
He just decided to join. He felt it was his duty."
Specialist
Hernandez, of Hammond, Indiana, died January 9, 2009, in the
Zabul province of Afghanistan after a makeshift explosive
device detonated near his vehicle in Jaldak.
Hernandez was the
82nd casualty from Afghanistan to be buried there. The new
Army policy took effect January 1, 2009. Previously, full
honors were reserved for officers and enlisted personnel who
reached the highest enlisted rank of E-9, according to
cemetery officials.
In the past,
limited resources, among other things, have hindered having
more full honors services. A standard honors service includes
a firing party, bugler and chaplain; full honors also includes
a band, colors team, escort platoon and horse-drawn caisson.
"Arlington National
Cemetery is an expression of our nation's reverence for those
who served her in uniform, many making the ultimate
sacrifice," said Secretary of the Army Pete Geren about the
policy change in a release last month. "Arlington and those
honored there are part of our national heritage. This new
policy provides a common standard for honoring all soldiers
killed in action."
Hernandez's
ceremony didn't include all the elements because of scheduling
and weather issues. Both of the cemetery's caissons were
already scheduled for use yesterday, and Hernandez's widow
opted to have the service sooner rather than waiting for a
later date when a caisson would be available, said Kaitlin
Horst, cemetery spokeswoman.
And instead of a
full military band, there was only a drummer because the band
doesn't perform when the weather is below freezing due to the
impact of cold on instruments, Horst said. "Anything in
addition to standard honors is considered a full honors
service," she added.
More than 100
mourners turned out yesterday to return Hernandez to the place
where he had served as a member of the Old Guard. An escort
removed his silver casket from a silver hearse and carried it
to the grave site.
Flags were
presented to Alison Hernandez, their two young sons and her
husband's parents, Elva and Jessie Hernandez. As the flags
were given out, 9-month-old Noah Hernandez, wailed loudly from
where he was being held in the front row. His older brother,
Jacob, stood in front of the seats and accepted a flag that
seemed almost as big as his 2-year-old body.
Killed along with
Hernandez were Maj. Brian M. Mescall, 33, of Hopkinton,
Massachusetts, and Sergeant Jason R. Parsons, 24, of Lenoir,
North Carolina. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th
Infant Regiment, based at Hohenfels, Germany. Mescall will be
buried at Arlington on Monday.
Alison Hernandez
told the Post-Tribune newspaper of Northern Indiana that her
husband called her every two days while he was in Afghanistan.
On January 9, she waited for the call and felt something
wasn't right.
"My stomach hurt,"
she told the Post-Tribune. "I wasn't feeling well. I broke
down and cried to my dad, and said, 'I need my husband.' "
Alison and their
sons lived in military housing with Hernandez in Hohenfels.
She and the boys came back to the United States for the
holidays, and Hernandez was going to join them in March.
Instead, on the night of January 9, Army representatives
informed her of her husband's death.
"It was a nightmare
come true," Robert Gordon Jr., Alison Hernandez's father, told
the Chicago Tribune. "I heard her scream from the porch. I got
up and she fell through the door. 'He's gone.' '' | 
