Roberto Causor laid to rest

Spc. Roberto J. Causor Jr. was the fourth U.S. soldier from San Jose to die in Iraq, one of 3,614 Americans who have died in the war. The improvised explosive devise that killed him has become so familiar that its acronym - IED - has worked its way into the dictionary.

But to the 200 people who came to mourn the 21-year-old from San Jose today, Causor was a determined hero, a loyal friend and a loving family member.

Family and friends gathered in the late morning to lay him to rest in a hilltop grave that overlooks the city where most of his tightknit family lives. From his grave site high above Oak Hill Memorial Park, the whole valley was visible under the clear sky.

"We have gone as far as we can with our hero," Chaplin Col. P. Dudley Neal told the crowd of mourners.

Six American flags held by supporters of local military families waved just below the spot where family and friends huddled together to say goodbye to the man who had grown up to become the soldier he always dreamed of being.

Since Causor was a little boy, he wanted to fight for the country as a way of showing gratitude for the opportunities granted to his family here, his uncle Francisco Causor said.

Family members tried but failed to talk him out of service.

"It was in his heart," his uncle said.

Causor died July 7 in Samarra, in central Iraq, after a homemade bomb exploded near his patrol.

For his service as a soldier, he was awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. His mother and father, in town from New Mexico, accepted the medals by his grave.

Causor served with the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, N.C. While in the Army, he fell in love with a woman from Texas, who became pregnant with his child during his last trip home.

The child will be part of the legacy the 2004 Overfelt High School graduate leaves behind. His life as a loyal friend and proud soldier will continue in other ways, family members said.

"We will not allow this to be the last time we think of Junior," said Gerry Lopez, using Causor's nickname.

Children cooed in the background as Causor's cousin, Maggie Lozano, sang "Amazing Grace."

Gunfire cracked three times as the crowd stood at attention. An Honor Guard held the American flag they pulled from Causor's casket taunt at their waists.

The only sound in the near-silence was weeping.

Causor's cousins, a large group of children and young adults who learned to lean on each other through hard times and good, lined up to leave mementos in his grave.

As they did so, a hawk took to the sky from the hillside.

Nestled down below among the trees surrounding other graves, an American flag stirred in the wind.

From the San Jose Mercury News

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