Fallen Marine's own words shared at funeral

Fallen Marine's own words shared at funeral
'I don't want anyone to be sad or cry over me,' wrote Farias.
By Scott Huddleston
shuddleston@express-news.net

NEW BRAUNFELS — More than 1,000 mourners who gathered for a final farewell for a man they called a “hometown military hero” sat in rapt silence as they heard the words that Lance Cpl. John Felix Farias had written, knowing he might not come home alive.

“Thank you for being here,” Chris Serna, Farias' longtime friend and classmate at Canyon High School, said Thursday, reading a letter the fallen Marine had penned before he died June 28 on combat operations in Afghanistan.

“I don't want anyone to be sad or cry over me,” wrote Farias, 20. “Tell my nieces and nephews to remember me.”

Although Farias made a passing reference in his letter about “inner demons” he'd fought before committing to Christianity, there were no reservations among mourners who celebrated his life during a nearly two-hour service at Tree of Life Church.


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