Burned Dad lays Marine son to rest

[Hoss68]

By Casey Ross
The Boston Herald
Sunday, September 5, 2004

The mourners cried quietly as the Marine's casket was carried in front of his stretcher-bound father - a man too wounded to walk, but too proud of his hero son to be kept away from the young man's funeral.

On the quiet Jamaica Plain street outside St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Carlos Arredondo sat alone in his stretcher and watched as his son's body disappeared into a hearse. Moments before, he had listened to a final tribute to a strong Marine who died too young.

``Alex's life was not lived in vain,'' the Rev. James Laughlin said as family members wept quietly yesterday. ``In his short life he brought so much joy, so much love and so much strength to your lives.''

That strength was drained away last week when Marines brought news that Alex Arredondo, a 20-year-old Norwood native, was killed in combat in Najaf, Iraq. The tragedy nearly took two lives when Arredondo's distraught father got into a Marine Corps van and set himself on fire, inflicting severe burns on 26 percent of his body.

The burns nearly kept Carlos Arredondo away from yesterday's funeral, but he insisted on being there. He prayed as Laughlin led the services for his boy.

``Alex was faithful, even in difficult circumstances,'' Laughlin said. ``He was a young man of few words, but tremendous strength.''
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