Indian-origin US soldier killed in Iran war given hero’s funeral
New York: Indian-origin US Army Sergeant Angel Rampersad, who was killed in action in the Iran war, was given a hero’s farewell at her funeral here.
“My daughter was a real hero”, her mother Carol Acevedo said on Friday at her funeral, surrounded by officials, soldiers and several hundred mourners who shared the sentiment.
Rampersad, who immigrated to the US as a two-year-old from Trinidad, was killed last month in an Iranian missile strike on a US Army base in Jordan.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who ordered the flags to be flown half-staff across the state to mourn her, said, “Staff Sergeant Rampersad lived a life of courage and selflessness. New York, and our nation, are safer because of brave Americans like her who answer the call to serve”.
The city and state rallied to honour her on her final journey, which was televised live by some stations.
A motorcade led by dozens of New York Police on motorcycles accompanied her body to the funeral services at a church and to the burial at a Long Island cemetery with military honours.
New York Mayor Zohair Mamdani, who is against President Donald Trump’s Iran War, joined the mourners at the church, and said in a statement, “Sgt. Rampersad’s courage and sacrifice will be remembered” across the city that was her home.
“For so many New Yorkers, wars overseas are never distant, they are felt here at home”, he added.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth received her body with military honours when it was brought from Jordan to the Dover Air Force Base on July 22.
Rampersad was based in Germany with an Army Air and Missile Defence Command, but was deployed to the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan for the war.
So far, 18 US military personnel have been killed in the Iran war that began on February 28 when Israel bombed Iran, and the US joined in.
Rampersad and four others, who were killed in renewed fighting after the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran imploded, had been listed by the Pentagon among the casualties of the Iran War.
But on Sunday they were moved out of that list to a new one called “Overseas Operations” in an apparent attempt to make the Iran War casualties lower.
Two others, Captain Tyler James Feehan, 25, and Private First Class Isabella Gonzales, 19, died with her in the attack on July 17.
The next day, Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton was killed in a base in Iraq that had been attacked by a drone.