Local soldier, killed in Afghanistan, buried

BY CLAUDIA CRUZ

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 3:55 PM EDT

A Far Rockaway family buried their son, Specialist Robert Hernandez, a soldier in Afghanistan, on Friday, June 12 – just a few weeks before he would have returned home.

Hernandez, 21, who comes from a family with a long tradition of military service, died while out patrolling on Tuesday, June 2 in Paktya, Afghanistan as a result of injuries received from an improvised explosive device and small arms fire.

At the funeral service on Friday at the Christian Cultural Center in the Flatlands in Brooklyn, family and friends came together to celebrate and remember his short and heroic life with a photo slide show.

According to reports his mother, an Air Force veteran, doesn’t want anyone to “remember him in a sad way.”

“I know where he's at now, and I'm at peace with that,” said Paulina Richards-Campbell, a former Air Force mechanic.

Posthumously, Hernandez received a Purple Heart, in recognition for injuries received in combat as a result of enemy fire and a Bronze Medal given for valor, heroic or meritorious achievement or service. Brigadier General Rodney Johnson presented these to Richards-Campbell.

Hernandez enlisted in the Army in September 2007 and before that studied at August Martin High School. His football coach at August Martin described that Hernandez as “a very committed and hardworking young man.”

“It is great as a coach to have an athlete who is committed, focused and willing to undertake all tasks to the best of his ability,” said Keith Brown. “He was always putting in 120 percent and he was that way on the field and in the classroom.”

After enlistment, Hernandez was assigned to the 549th Military Police Company, 385th Military Police Battalion, 16th Military Police Brigade (Airborne), Fort Stewart, GA.

Hernandez was laid to rest at Calverton National Cemetery in Long Island.