SPC Alexis V. Maldonado – KIA Homecoming Aug 2010

August 29, 2010 · By Jerry Castillo

Wichita Falls, TX Aug. 28,2010. On a warm clear summer day several dozen family members gathered at the Wichita Falls Municipal Airport to welcome home their loved one, SPC Alexis V. Maldonado.

Also gathered were 50-75 North Texas Patriot Guard Riders who stood by while the family watched the dignified transfer on the tarmac, and later escorted the procession through town on the way to the Owens & Brumley Funeral Home.

Originally, the family had requested no media, but once I explained how my videos are watched by family members who are unable to attend and the troops who served with him.  The family invited me out on the tarmac with them and allowed me to document this solemn ceremony.

This was especially poignant for me as I am preparing for the Patriot Guard Riders National Gathering of the Guard 2010 scheduled for Sept. 9-12 in Killeen/Ft. Hood, where Spc Maldonado was based. His unit was one of the units attacked during readiness processing at Fort Hood last November, and engineers Alexis had trained with were killed or wounded before the unit ever left American soil.

Alexis Maldonado enlisted in the Army a year after he became a father. His son, Isaiah, just turned two.

Alexis became a combat engineer, one of the soldiers who travel dangerous roads, seeking to protect the lives of others while risking their own. Once deployed to Afghanistan, his service was remarkable.  Alexis’s unit was stationed at Forward Operating Base Ramrod, and they cleared roads of IEDs to protect soldiers and civilians alike.  Alexis completed more than one hundred missions of this extremely dangerous duty, usually driving or manning the machine gun position which serves as the eyes of the vehicle.

After his service in the Army, Alexis Maldonado hoped to study auto mechanics at Universal Technical Institute, near home in Dallas, Texas.  He wanted to be a mechanic.  He loved music, and was a dedicated weight-lifter.

Alexis died of wounds he suffered when his convoy was ambushed in Zhari Province, Afghanistan.

Alexis is mourned, remembered, and loved by many, including his parents and step-parents, Jesse, Alicia, Linda, and Keith, his fiancée, Baronica, his son, Isaiah, his brothers, Brad and Sergio, and his sister, Aleksi.