SAN BRUNO - Army Cpl. Christopher D. Rose, a
Filipino American who was killed in Iraq
last month was laid to rest at the Golden
Gate National Cemetery here July 11 with full military
honors.
The 21-year-old Vallejo native and the
first San Francisco soldier killed in Iraq since fighting began more than three years
ago was killed when a roadside bomb exploded during a routine patrol in Baghdad. Rose’s parents,
Rudy and Margaret Rose, sprinkled their son’s flag-draped casket with holy
water as more than 100 mourners looked on.
A military honor guard fired a 21-gun
salute over Rose’s grave while a bugler played “Taps,” its sad strains echoing
off the rows of identical white tombstones for fallen soldiers lining the
cemetery grounds.
“We’re very proud of him,” said his
uncle, Benito Rose of Vallejo.
“He’s our hero.”
Rose grew up in a North Vallejo
neighborhood and attended first, second and third grades at Cooper Elementary
before his parents moved the family to San
Francisco.
Ginabel Ruiz remembered her cousin as a
“peacemaker” with a shiny grin who was devoted to his parents and two older
sisters.
In Manila,
Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo offered in a statement his condolences to the
family of the Filipino-American soldier, praising him for helping defend
democracy. A Philippine consular official hand-delivered his letter to
the family of Rose in San
Francisco. In his letter, Romulo said the Philippines honors Rose’s “bravery and
commitment in helping secure a free, stable and democratic Iraq.”
“Christopher represented the best of the
Filipino-American -freedom-loving, independent and goal-oriented,” Romulo said.
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