DOVER, Del. — The body of a former Port St. Lucie resident killed in Iraq on Sunday was flown here early Tuesday afternoon, where his parents and siblings waited for him.

Army Spc. Michael Anaya, 23, died in Bayji, northwest of Baghdad, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

His parents, Carmelo Sr. and Cheryl, and his older siblings, Carmelo Jr. and Trista Moffett, watched as the flag-draped box carrying his body was saluted and led across the tarmac by an honor guard.

“They did a very professional job. It was like they were handling their own family,” his sister said. “They were wonderful to him and to us.”

After the box was placed in a medical examiner’s van, Moffett and other family members returned to their vehicle and watched through the windows as Michael disappeared from sight.

“We sat until we couldn’t see him anymore,” she said. “We watched the honor guard walk away.

“It still feels so unreal,” she added.

The media was allowed to photograph the transfer of the soldier from the airplane to the van waiting to take him to the medical examiner’s office.

Moffett said her family had a choice whether to allow the media to be present.

President Barack Obama recently lifted an 18-year ban on photographing the arrival of military members killed overseas.

Moffett said they based their decision on what they thought Mike would like.

“My brother would have thought it was cool that he was on TV,” she said, adding that when an elementary school class adopted his unit in Honolulu, Michael called home to tell her and his mom that he’d made the evening news.

“ ‘Check this out,’ ” she said, in the tone her brother used. “ ‘I’m on TV, dude.’ ”

Michael joined the Army in 2006 and had been stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii since January 2008. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.

He was born and raised in the Port St. Lucie area. His family moved to Crestview when Moffett, who was in the Air Force, was stationed here several years ago.

His family said Michael loved his job.

“Ever since he was a little boy, he was a soldier,” said his sister. “We have a picture of him when he was about 5 years old Christmas morning. He got Army stuff and he was dressed up in it.”

She said her brother didn’t want to be in Iraq, but he believed in his job and in the Army.

“They have a job to do and they know that we depend on them,” she said.

Moffett said she and her mother will fly back to Crestview today.

Her father and her brother will wait for the medical examiner to release Michael’s body and then fly home with him. They have been told it could take as long as 72 hours.

Services could be Saturday at Niceville Assembly of God, with burial in Heritage Garden Cemetery. He wanted to be buried near his family.

WENDY VICTORA
Northwest Florida Daily News, TCPalm.com
Source: Northwest Florida Daily News

© 2009 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers

Tags: body, coffin, dies, iraq, media, mother, photograph, soldier, war

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 9:52 am and is filed under Port St. Lucie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.