Marine Cpl. Nicolas D. Parada Rodriguez, 29, of Stafford, Va.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died May 16 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan."HE LOVED AMERICA FROM THE VERY BEGINNING"
A U.S. Marine who graduated from Lee High School was killed in Afghanistan on May 12.
Cpl. Nicolas Parada-Rodriguez, will be buried Thursday at Arlington National Cemetery. He is survived by a brother, two sisters, his mother and an estranged wife. He was 29.
Parada-Rodriguez was killed May 12 in the Helmand province of Afghanistan while providing support for combat operations there, according to a Defense Department statement.
Parada-Rodriguez was born in El Salvador in 1981 but moved to Springfield with his family in 1986 at age 5.
"He loved America from the very beginning," said his older brother, Lisandro Parada-Rodriguez, 32, of Stafford. "Even as a kid, he would play soldier and dream of actually becoming one."
After Nicolas Parada-Rodriguez graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 1999, he joined the Navy and was later deployed to Afghanistan.
He left the military after four years and returned to Northern Virginia, where he briefly worked a night security job in Springfield.
"It didn't last very long, maybe four months or so," his brother said. "He really missed his buddies in Afghanistan and felt like he needed to serve his country some more."
Parada-Rodriguez soon joined back up, this time as a Marine, and went back to Afghanistan.
"When he left before Christmas last year, it was his second tour there," his brother said.
"Our mother was devastated because he was the youngest in the family," said Lisandro Parada-Rodriguez, who lives with their mother, Luisa Parada-Rodriguez. "We saw two officers approach the house and we knew. Nicolas always said 'If you don't hear from me for a while I'm probably OK, but if you see two officers come to the house, it means I am gone.' I love my brother. He was a great guy and a great warrior who looked out for everybody."
"He was a goofy guy, in a good way," said Lisandro Parada-Rodriguez's girlfriend, Olga Lara. "He would always crack me up and make me laugh."
"He was the baby," a tearful Luisa Parada-Rodriguez said. "He said he just liked defending his country. He wanted to do something that people would remember him for."
His family described him as bighearted, family-oriented and always striving to be a leader.
On Thursday, May 27, Luisa Parada-Rodriguez placed a heavy hand on the American flag presented to her by Sgt. Maj. Eric J. Stockton on Thursday. When her son Lisandro accepted another flag from Stockton, she grabbed his hand and held on.
Her younger son and Lisandro's brother, Marine Cpl. Nicolas D. Parada-Rodriguez, 29, was being buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
About 150 friends and family members took part in the last burial in Section 60 on Thursday before soldiers began placing flags on every grave in honor of Memorial Day.
He was a team leader assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 7, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
"He said he just liked defending his country," she said in the earlier interview. "He wanted to do something that people would remember him for."
His family described him as bighearted, family-oriented and always striving to be a leader.
Guy Krikorian and his wife, both of Southern California, flew across the country to attend Parada-Rodriguez's service and to show their appreciation to his family. The parents of one of his friends, they wanted to let the corporal's family know "how much he meant to us and how sorry we are and we appreciate what he was doing for us," Krikorian said.
Lance Cpl. Andrew Krikorian, Krikorian's son, was transferred to Camp Lejeune, where Parada-Rodriguez helped him with the transition into a new base. In Afghanistan, Parada-Rodriguez served as the younger Krikorian's team leader.
"We looked at it from the standpoint of his family and what he meant to Andy," Krikorian said. "It would mean the world if somebody would be able to express something about our son" in a similar situation, he said.
The Krikorian family was able to meet Parada-Rodriguez one night last summer when he visited their home, and they found him to be a "very nice man" who could enjoy a good laugh, Krikorian said.
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