Eric G. Palacios Rivera killed by sniper

Cayetana Palacios traveled to Germany for a ceremony at which her son, Army Spc. Eric Rivera, was named a patrol leader for his unit. As soon as he saw her six months ago, the 21-year-old soldier from Atlantic City took his mother in his arms, tossed her in the air and kissed her on the cheek.

"He was so happy when he sees me. He says, 'Momma, with you I will have a good time,'" Palacios, a housekeeper at Caesar's Atlantic City for 24 years, recalled yesterday.

Rivera, 21, was never shy about telling his mother he loved her. But he loved the Army, too, and instead of coming home for good in September, he re-enlisted for another three years. He was one test away from making sergeant.

"It's funny to say, but it feels like I have no life. I'm so brainwashed by the Army ... but I love it," Rivera recently wrote to his 27-year-old brother, Jefferson.

On Tuesday, Rivera was shot and killed by a sniper while on patrol in Iraq, his family said. The Pentagon still has not officially confirmed Rivera's death or the circumstances surrounding it. But in his letter, Rivera said his unit was in Balad.

Rivera is the 63rd service member with ties to New Jersey to be killed in Iraq.

Two months into his second tour, Rivera was assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2d Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany.

"Atlantic City lost an angel," said Palacios, 51, a native of El Salvador. "He fights for this country and I'm so proud of him."

Palacios said she last spoke to her son on Sunday, but didn't know he was in Iraq. That's exactly how he wanted it.

Rivera and his brother had agreed to let their mother keep thinking he was in Germany, so she wouldn't worry about him so much.

Thinking back to that Sunday conversation, however, Palacios now wonders whether her son hadn't foreseen his own death.

She said he told her she'd always be in his heart and mind if he was killed in Iraq. She said she told her son to stop talking that way.

An Atlantic City native, Rivera graduated from Atlantic City High School in 2003 and joined the Army shortly after. Having a father and uncles who had served in the military in El Salvador, Rivera was naturally drawn to the Army, his brother said.

A devout Catholic, he attended Mass every Sunday growing up and served as an altar boy for nearly two years, his mother said.

While waiting to be deployed, he worked in the coffee shop at the Tropicana bus depot in Atlantic City and at a local florist, both businesses just a few blocks down the street from the family's home on North Brighton Avenue.

Yesterday, a big yellow bow adorned the white wooden railing leading to their second-floor apartment.

Rivera also had a special place in his heart for children, said his cousin, Yohana Rodriguez. Whenever he was home, he would visit the Richmond Avenue School, which he had attended, and visit with the pupils. He hoped some day to establish a foundation for children stricken with cancer and leukemia, Rodriguez said.

When his time was up in the Army, Rivera planned to follow in his brother's footsteps by becoming an Atlantic City police officer. Jefferson Rivera is attending the police academy.

The two brothers were like yin and yang, Jefferson Rivera said. Eric was taller and chubby growing up. Jefferson was shorter and leaner. Eric was light skinned and a prankster, Jefferson was dark-skinned and serious.

That's why Jefferson feels there will always be a big hole in his life.

"I feel like my better half has gone away," he said.

From the Star Ledger