A Saddened Corona Receives Its Soldier, Home From Iraq

The funeral procession for Sgt. Alex R. Jimenez made its way from Hinton Park the few blocks to the funeral home, and church.

A Saddened Corona Receives Its Soldier, Home From Iraq

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ
Published: August 1, 2008
For 14 months, they waited for him. They hung the midnight-black missing-in-action banner at his home in Queens, offsetting its grimness with the bright hues of the Dominican and American flags. They dreaded another knock at the door from soldiers in uniform, but as the months dragged on, some came to crave closure most of all.

On Thursday, he came back. The police cars with flashing lights guided Sgt. Alex R. Jimenez’s coffin past the laundry, the travel agency and the minimart to 104-35 37th Drive in Corona. The procession paused in front of the bouquet of yellow and white flowers.

“You’re home, you’re home,” his friends and relatives cried as they surrounded the car holding his coffin, holding each other up for support.
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Body of missing Lawrence soldier discovered in Iraq

Body of missing Lawrence soldier discovered in Iraq
By Jeannie Nuss & Milton J. Valencia
Globe Correspondent And Globe Staff / July 10, 2008
The body of Alex R. Jimenez, a Lawrence-based soldier who was kidnapped more than a year ago, has been found in Iraq in a tragic ending to a family's wrenching hope for his return.

Jimenez's father, Ramon "Andy'' Jimenez, was notified by Army servicemen who came to his home yesterday that his son's body was found two days ago by Iraqi authorities, who contacted their American counterparts.

The elder Ramirez, who had held out hope that he would one day see his son's return, seemed to come to terms with the news.

"It comforts you when you accept something, and Alex did what he wanted to do,'' said Andy Jimenez, who was joined yesterday by friends and family, and a community of supporters who had rallied around him since Alex first went missing on May 12, 2007.

Sergeant Alex Jimenez, an Army specialist, was 25 when he and other members of the Second Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division were ambushed while on patrol on a deserted highway south of Baghdad. Several members of his unit were killed.

Jimenez and two other soldiers were kidnapped. The body of Private First Class Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, Calif. was discovered in a river just 11 days later. Private Byron W. Fouty, 19.of Waterford, Mich., is still missing. There was no information on Fouty yesterday.

Two Pentagon officials with knowledge of the case said that the military plans to announce the discovery of Jimenez's body today, in accordance with Pentagon policy that no announcement will be made until 24 hours after a family is notified.
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