Valley soldier's body expected to arrive Thursday in Harlingen

HARLINGEN — The body of Army Spc. Eric Domingo Salinas, killed in Iraq last week, is expected to be returned here early today.

Family members planned to accompany Salinas’ body from Houston as he made the final trip to his childhood hometown.

Salinas, 26, was killed Aug. 2 by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.

Gracie De Leon, his aunt, said although he moved to Houston when he was 9 years old, Salinas often traveled to the Rio Grande Valley to visit relatives.

“We will make the trip in honor of my nephew,” De Leon said Thursday during a phone interview from Houston. “This is his last trip going home, and we will be with him.”

Salinas and two other soldiers, Staff Sgt. Fernando Santos, 29, of San Antonio, and Spc. Cristian Rojas-Gallego, 24, of Loganville, Ga., died when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle, the Defense Department said in a statement.

All three were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, based at Fort Lewis, Wash.

U.S. Army Master Sgt. John Garcia said a hearse from Funeraria del Angel in Harlingen would pick up Salinas’ body in Houston on Thursday and then return to Harlingen early today.

The Primera Police Department planned to meet the hearse at the Sarita checkpoint and escort it into Harlingen.

Salinas was born in Harlingen and raised in Primera, where he attended Wilson Elementary School as a child, De Leon said.

The Valley never stopped being home to Salinas.

America’s Last Patrol plans to have a flag-raising ceremony at 11 a.m. today at Fifth Street and Pacific Avenue at the home of Salinas’ grandmother, Guadalupe Correa De Leon.

Visitation is set for 1 to 9 p.m. today at Funeraria del Angel, 2906 S. Expressway 77/83, a funeral home spokeswoman said.

A funeral Mass is to be celebrated at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Harlingen, followed by burial at Restlawn Memorial Park in La Feria, the spokeswoman said.

Salinas has ties to others elsewhere in the country.

Stephanie Braswell of Birmingham, Ala., said her son, Spc. Colby Helton, 21, served with Salinas.

“My son and him were brothers,” Braswell said Thursday in a telephone interview.

“He told use that he would pray for us,” Braswell said. “He was the one at war, and he said he’d pray for us. Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

When Braswell’s family sent Helton care packages, they included packages for Salinas, and Salinas often wrote letters to Braswell and her family members, offering his prayers to them.

Braswell said she is devastated that when Helton comes home, Salinas won’t be at his side.

De Leon said she asks that her nephew be remembered as a hero.

“He took on a big responsibility that other people wouldn’t necessarily do,” De Leon said. “And he has come back as a hero.”

But in Braswell’s estimation, Salinas was already a hero.

“He is everything a hero should be,” she said. “He is an American hero.”