“I haven’t seen him in a long time, but when I was little, he went to my birthday parties and stuff,” said North Bergen High School Student Melissa Cepeda after the funeral procession of Sgt. Marcos A. Gorra, her distant cousin. “It hurt me because he was a part of the family.”
Gorra, 22, an Army paratrooper with the 2nd Battalion, 82nd Aviation Brigade and 82nd Airborne Division, died on Feb. 21 at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan due to injuries sustained from a training exercise. An Army spokesperson said last week that an investigation into Marcos’ death is ongoing.
Hundreds of family members, friends, and public officials throughout Hudson and Bergen counties attended his funeral service at St. Mary’s Church in West New York Tuesday.
A Kansas-based organization that preaches hatred of the U.S. military, as well as different races and homesexuals, had planned to protest at the funeral, as they had done at military funerals around the country. However, the Westboro Baptist Church did not show up.
“It hurt me because he was a part of the family.” – Melissa Cepeda
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Around 1,000 high school students came outside on their own volition to mourn the loss of a fellow Bruin.
Band member Nicholas Rodriguez said that this performance was about remembering the man who fell in service to the country.
Community heartbroken
“Those who knew him are heartbroken over the loss,” said North Bergen Mayor and Assistant Superintendent of Schools Nicholas Sacco. “The entire community shared in the grief for the family. It’s hard to comprehend what the parents and the family are going through. It’s such a terrible loss.”
North Bergen High School Principal Paschal Tennaro said that he remembered Gorra as a star football player. He said that his “inner strength” was that of an honor student and an athlete.
“He was an individual that reflected coming from a quality family that taught him respect, respect of the country that he was living in, and that’s why I think he joined the [military], because he was a quality individual that had high standards for himself,” Tennaro said.
Hit home
Tennaro said that Gorra’s loss was traumatic even for members of the student body who did not know the fallen soldier.
Tennaro, said it also made them realize their own mortality.
Band member Leonardo De Jesus said that anyone who graduates NBHS could be joining the military soon as well.
“You don’t know who might make it tomorrow,” said De Jesus.
Fellow band member Abdel Kardas said that he mourned the loss of the fallen Bruin.
“This is a very, very big loss for the people of North Bergen, and I only wish and hope that the family can come to terms with the loss over time,” said Sacco.
The Army has not commented on what kind of training exercise Gorra had participated in. A spokesman said that the results of the investigation will be “downwind,” meaning it will take a long time.
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.