Memories of fallen soldier

DALTON, Ga. -- One thing family and friends say they could always count on with Sgt. Raymundo "Ray" Morales: He would make you smile.

As Tommy Morales walked away from his younger brother's grave Thursday, he said he was "honored and grateful" to have had a man like Sgt. Morales as a brother.

"He loved to play jokes, to put a smile on people's faces," he said.

Longtime friends and family said Sgt. Morales might laugh, but he was a hard worker who rarely rested, especially while soldiering.

Mr. Morales laughed when recounting how he mailed Miracle-Gro to his brother in Afghanistan, who was helping local people grow a garden.

The 34-year-old Georgia Army National Guard sergeant was killed July 21 in Methar Lam, Afghanistan, when the Humvee he was riding in turned over. Sgt. Morales, a 12-year National Guard veteran, was posthumously promoted to sergeant and awarded the Bronze Star on Thursday for his service in Afghanistan.

After services in St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Dalton, he was buried Thursday in Colonial Hills Memorial Park.

Sgt. Morales' body was accompanied by a military escort from Afghanistan. A contingent of soldiers stood a 24-hour watch before the burial.

Lifelong friend Alicia Cardenas said Sgt. Morales always was excited about training and looked forward to his Afghanistan deployment, for which he volunteered. She said he transferred schools from his home in Whitfield County to Murray County so he could join the area's only ROTC program.

Mr. Morales said his brother joined the Guard right after graduating from high school and loved life as a soldier. He admired his brother's commitment but felt pain in his sacrifice.

"I wish that we would end this war so no more families would be destroyed," Mr. Morales said. "But there's times when we have to go to war."

Maria Phillips, a Morales family neighbor, remembered Sgt. Morales coming to her house as a little boy whenever she made fresh tortillas. She called him one of the neighborhood guardian angels, always helping smaller kids and picking them up when they fell off their bikes.

"You couldn't ask for a better person as a neighbor," she said.

Father Paul Williams conducted Mass during the funeral service.

"We're just humbled by guys like Ray," Father Williams said.

Sgt. Morales' sister-in-law, Susie Morales, said it was important to him that he serve overseas, even though many in the family worried about him deploying to combat.

"But his feeling was to serve this country," she said in Spanish.

At the end of the service at the cemetery, the rifle team fired a 21-gun salute, the notes of taps lingered in the humid air and four helicopters thumped overhead.

Sgt. Morales' parents, Manuela and Tomas Morales, and family received a tightly-folded American flag.

As the family walked away from the grave, Mark Perry, a Riceville bird trainer, released seven white doves. He let the first six go as a group to represent members of the deceased's family who've already died.

Then he let a seventh go. That dove, he said, represents Sgt. Morales, flying to join the rest, to go home.

AFGHANISTAN CASUALTIES

* Sgt. Raymundo "Ray" Morales, 34, of Dawnville, Ga., was killed July 21.

* Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Seth Sharp, 20, of Adairsville, Ga., was killed July 2.

* 1st Sgt. John Blair, of Calhoun, Ga., was killed June 20.

* Sgt. Jeffery William Jordan, 21, of Cave Spring, Ga., was one of three soldiers from a Georgia National Guard unit killed June 4.

IRAQ CASUALTIES

A total of 4,306 American military personnel have been confirmed dead since the war in Iraq began in March 2003. Records show 19 have ties to this region:

* Army Pvt. Thomas Edward Lee III, 20, of Dalton, Ga., died May 29, 2009, in Mosul when an explosive device struck his vehicle.

* Army Cpl. Michael B. Alleman, 31, a 1996 Southeast Whitfield High School graduate who had been living in Logan, Utah, died Feb. 23, 2009, in Balad when insurgents attacked his unit.

* Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan W. Dean, 25, of Henagar, Ala., died Dec. 20, 2008, in a noncombat-related incident in Tikrit.

* Army Capt. Darrick Wright, 37, of Nashville, formerly unit commander of the Army Reserve's 390th Engineering Company in Chattanooga, died Sept. 17, 2008, in Baghdad of noncombat-related cardiac arrest.

* Marine Lance Cpl. James M. Gluff, 20, of Tunnel Hill, Ga., died Jan. 19, 2008, in Ramadi during combat.

* Army Command Sgt. Maj. Jonathan M. Lankford, 42, of Scottsboro, Ala., died Sept. 22, 2007, in Baghdad of noncombat-related cardiac arrest.

* Marine Lance Cpl. Will Chambers, 20, of Ringgold, Ga., drowned July 1, 2007, just off the shore of Anbar province in a nonhostile boat accident.

* Army Pfc. Travis Haslip, 20, of Ooltewah, died May 19, 2007, in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

* Army Sgt. Shawn Dunkin, 25, of Chattanooga and Columbia, S.C., died Feb. 19, 2007, in Baghdad after his vehicle was struck by an IED.

* Army Sgt. John Michael Sullivan, 22, of Hixson, died Dec. 30, 2006, when an IED detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad.

* Army Sgt. David Weir, 23, of Cleveland, Tenn., died Sept. 14, 2006, during combat in Baghdad.

* Marine Lance Cpl. Kristopher Cody Warren, 19, of Calhoun and Resaca, Ga., died Nov. 9, 2006, in a noncombat related shooting in Anbar province. The fellow Marine who shot Lance Cpl. Warren while playing with a rifle pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 27 months behind bars during a March, 2008, court martial.

* Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua Scott, 24, of Ringgold, Ga., died Jan. 23, 2006, in a nonhostile vehicle accident near Taqaddum.

*Army 1st Sgt. Aaron Jagger, 43, formerly of Rossville, Ga., died Aug. 9, 2006, after an IED detonated near his humvee during combat in Ramadi.

* Army Sgt. James D. Stewart, 29, formerly of Chattanooga and a Fort Oglethorpe native, died June 21, 2005, after an IED detonated near his military cargo truck in Rutbah.

* Army Pfc. James W. Price, 22, of Cleveland, Tenn., died Sept. 18, 2004, after an IED hit his convoy vehicle in Baghdad.

* Marine Lance Cpl. Juan Lopez, 22, of Dalton, Ga., died June 21, 2004, during an ambush in Anbar province.

* Army Spc. Marshall Edgerton, 27, of Rocky Face, Ga., died Dec. 11, 2003, when his camp was attacked in Ramadi.

* Marine Sgt. Brendon Reiss, 23, a Wyoming native who is buried at the Chattanooga National Cemetery because his wife is from Cleveland, Tenn., died March 23, 2003, in a grenade blast near Nasiriyah.

Sources: U.S. Department of Defense, icasualties.org, militarycity.com, Southeast Whitfield High School, newspaper archives.