SOLDIER HONORED

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Army Sgt. Alfred Paredez loved to make grilled cheese sandwiches and take apart machines piece by piece.

He loved helping people he didn’t know and giving food to hungry children in Iraq.

Above all, he loved his family, the soldiers he served with and his country.

That’s how the 32-year-old Clark High School graduate and infantryman from Las Vegas was remembered Thursday before his casket was lowered into a grave at a cemetery off Las Vegas Boulevard North.

"He was disappointed that the news of really good things in Iraq were never reported," the Rev. Denny Krause told some 100 mourners who gathered for his service at Bunkers Mortuary.

"His family said he would help anybody. He helped children in Iraq and would give out his own MREs (meals ready to eat) to those who were hungry," Krause said. "Alfred was an honorable man, a person who believed in helping others.

"He loved to take things apart, not necessarily putting them back together," he said. Paredez "loved to work with his hands," he said. "School was not his favorite activity."

"Alfred was a good cook … especially known for his grilled cheese sandwiches," Krause said.

Paredez was killed in action Nov. 20 while returning from a convoy escort mission in eastern Baghdad. A roadside bomb detonated, sending a molten projectile through the vehicle he was in. An Iraqi interpreter was killed, and three other U.S. soldiers were wounded in the attack, U.S. military officials in Iraq and a soldier from his unit said.

"What I can tell you about your son, your husband, your stepfather and your brother that you didn’t know is that he loved riding in vehicles and training soldiers on the side," Sgt. 1st Class John Shatto said.

"He trained his soldiers every day, and they performed. … Sergeant Paredez is a true hero. He faced fear every day for 13 months in Iraq," Shatto said.

Paredez’s wife, Cheryl, whom he met at Fort Hood, Texas, said that she is "very, very proud" of her husband.

"He believed in everything he did, and he died an honorable death," she said.

Choking back tears in a speech at the chapel, his stepdaughter, Laura Spencer, said, "He was always a good friend and a great father."

Said his stepson, James Rush: "He was a great man. That was pretty much it. He was always there for me. … The only thing I wanted from him was to treat my mother the way she deserved to be treated.

"I just want my stepfather to be remembered not as the soldier but as the man, the father, the friend, the husband that he was," he said.

His mother, Denise Baca of Las Vegas, said that when Alfred was about 5 years old, "he always called me ‘Mom.’ I could never get him to call me ‘Mommie’ or ‘Ma.’ … I’m very proud of my son. He turned out to be a very fine man. He truly believed in what he was doing. I will miss him deeply."

Alfred G. Paredez Jr. was born Aug. 28, 1975, in Fontana, Calif. He grew up as a "country boy," Krause said, in the farmland around Tularosa, N.M.

Paredez moved to Las Vegas as a teenager, where he joined the Army in 1993 after graduating from Clark High School.

He became a helicopter mechanic at Fort Hood and later worked as a copy machine technician. He met Cheryl, "a struggling single parent," Krause said. They were married in June 2000.

In early 2001, he re-enlisted in the Army to become an infantryman and served in such places as Kosovo and South Korea, winding up in Iraq first for an eight-month tour and again for 13 months.

On his second tour, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.

On Thursday, his family was presented with his Purple Heart medal and a Bronze Star medal for meritorious service from Oct. 26, 2006, until his death on Nov. 20.

Gov. Jim Gibbons attended Thursday’s chapel service as did Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.

At the soldier’s graveside at Eden Vale Memorial Park, his medals and folded U.S. flags were presented to his wife, mother and father, Alfred Paredez Sr. of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

There, Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Norm Andersson, of Division West, 1st Army, in Fort Carson, Colo., spoke privately about the sacrifices soldiers have made.

"I’ve attended many of these funerals, and I’m just awestruck by the caliber and bravery of these soldiers. But they are called back to the Lord too soon," he said.

Paredez is the 56th U.S. military person with ties to Nevada to die in the nation’s wars overseas since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0308.