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LeRoy E. Alexander—June
2005 Shipment Honoree
Army Staff Sgt., 27, of Dale
City, Va.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces
Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.; killed June 3, 2005 when his convoy
vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device at
Forward Operating Base Orgun-E, Afghanistan. Also killed was
Capt. Charles D. Robinson.
Services Held
for Fallen Soldier
Source: by
David Stegon, Potomac News, Tuesday, June 21, 2005 and
www.arlingtoncemetery.net/leroy-alexander.htm
The words
bounced off the church walls as the crowd came to its feet,
ready to send Roy Boy home. A medley of LeRoy Alexander’s
favorite songs rang through First Baptist Church in Manassas
as the crowd of about 500 sang and prayed and remembered their
fallen friend, both celebrating his life and mourning his
death in a “Going Home Ceremony.”
Later Monday
afternoon, the mood changed, as Alexander was laid to rest at
Arlington National Cemetery, two weeks after an improvised
bomb killed him and another soldier as they were riding in a
convoy in southeast Afghanistan on June 3, 2005. “LeRoy is now
with the Lord,” said the Rev. John Blackmon. “We must thank
Jesus for the time we had LeRoy, but know that he is home,
serving the Lord.”
Alexander, 27,
was born in North Carolina, but lived in Dale City as a
teenager, where he met his future wife Marissa. He graduated
from C.D. Hylton High School in 1997 and joined the Army,
following his father Ronald, who served as a Marine in the
Vietnam War.
Alexander
served in Kosovo and Haiti before his death in Afghanistan. He
was scheduled to leave Afghanistan in nine days and then serve
eight months in Colombia, before hopefully leaving the
military to raise his family. His wife Marissa is pregnant
with twins.
Alexander
enlisted as a technical engineer specialist, but later
graduated from Special Forces Qualification Course and became
a Special Forces engineer Sergeant.
An estimated
500 friends and family attended Monday’s service, sharing
stories about Alexander, who most people called Lee, except
his grandfather, who called him Roy Boy.
“Lee taught me
so many things during my life,” said Alexander’s mother,
Felicia, “but the last one, and perhaps the most important,
was that it’s better to die for something than to live for
nothing.”
Family mourns
fallen soldier
Felicia
Alexander remembered other stories from her son’s life, like
when he begged her to let him play the trumpet and she could
not afford it, or the first time he brought Marissa home to
meet her. At the end of her tribute, Felicia Alexander
presented Marissa with a flower arrangement, as her son liked
to do.
Elder Georgia
Walker remembered running into Alexander at a restaurant in
Fort Bragg, N.C., and him lifting her spirits, giving her the
warm welcome she needed.
“In the
military it’s unheard of for an enlisted person to salute
another enlisted person,” Walker said, “but LeRoy has been
promoted to a captain in the army of the Lord.” Walker then
saluted Alexander, as the crowd came to its feet applauding.
Dustin Hanover,
a friend from Fort Bragg, told a story of when Alexander and
his wife followed them home from the hospital during a
snowstorm to make sure they got home safely following the
birth of Hanover’s first child.
“[Lee] was the
first person outside my family to hold my baby,” Hanover said,
fighting back tears. “He always joked he was going to drop
her, but he never did.” Hanover then said he plans to name his
next child in honor of Alexander.
The service
then moved to Arlington, where Alexander’s body was laid to
rest. His wife and father were presented with flags as most of
the crowd from the morning’s ceremony watched on. A bugler
played Taps from across a field while a firing party fired
three shots in his honor.
His awards and
decorations include: the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Army
Achievement Medal, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense
Service Medal, NCO Professional Development Ribbon, Army
Service Ribbon, Parachutist Badge, and Air Assault Badge. He
was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart,
the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Afghanistan Campaign
Medal.
Alexander is
survived by his wife, Marissa; and parents, Ronald and Felicia
Alexander of Manassas, Va. | 
