Megathlin: Farewell, for now, Staff Sergeant De Alencar

Staff Sgt. Mark De Alencar, 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group
Staff Sgt. Mark De Alencar, 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group
photo Carol Megathlin

The rigid rows of marble headstones follow the hills and hollows of Arlington National Cemetery - overwhelming, humbling, heart-sickening. Is there any place other than Arlington where the complex wages of war weigh so profoundly on the spirit?

Staff Sgt. Mark De Alencar, 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, was killed in action on April 8, 2017, in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, fighting ISIS forces. He was interred in Arlington on May 10 at 1 p.m. I was privileged to witness the ceremony.

Six white horses - Percherons, two abreast - pulled the caisson bearing his flag-wrapped casket to a large open grassy area where no grave markers stood.

As the pallbearers moved the casket from the caisson to the bier, an Army band softly played a hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy." A ninth soldier took a stance at the head of the casket, maintaining rigid attention. Behind him, a small unit of Green Berets had gathered. Special Forces troops. Staff Sergeant De Alencar was one of their brothers.

The band played "America the Beautiful" as the pallbearers unbanded the flag from the casket and held it taut and flat, centered above coffin. After the seating of the family, Army Chaplain Hubbs began the service began with a prayer.

After reciting the 23rd Psalm, Chaplain Hubbs addressed the family. "We are not here to say goodbye. We are here to say farewell for now."

Afterward, seven soldiers bearing rifles fired three volleys. Then a bugler, standing at a distance, played "Taps."

At the last note of "Taps," the pallbearers began to fold the flag they had held over the casket during the ceremony. The soldier standing at the head of the casket took the folded flag, made an about-face, and handed it to a Green Beret general.

The general took the flag, knelt before the widow, Natasha De Alencar, and placed it in her hands, speaking a few quiet words to her. She nodded her head quickly several times, grasping the general's hand. When he stood, she clutched the flag to her chest, rocking gently to and fro.

As a folded flag was given to all five children in the same manner, one of the older boys wiped away tears with the heel of his hand.

At the end of the ceremony guests were invited to speak to the family. All the Green Berets knelt in turn before each family member, but, oddly, in line with them was a black-suited man in a wheelchair. When the woman with him pushed him up to the casket, he slid a folded note into a seam in the top of the coffin.

He stood up, and only then did I realize that his right leg had been amputated at the knee. He stood surely, without struggle, and - balanced on one leg - executed a slow, solemn salute.

Staff Sgt. Mark De Alencar gave his life fighting those who are determined to do us harm - like thousands before him in the history of our country. It is impossible to fully apprehend a depth of courage and commitment that holds firm even to death. But we can honor the long line of patriots who have died for us in one simple way.

Live worthy of their sacrifice.

Carol Megathlin is a writer living in Savannah, Ga., and Fairhope, Ala.

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