TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
evolux78's Blog
evolux78's Blog
Nigerians,others gets posthumous us citizenship
Related to country: Nigeria

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Nigerian, others bag US citizenship for dying in Iraq

By Waheed Bakare with agency report


Nigerian-born Justin Onwordi, who fought on the side of America and was killed in Iraq was among over 100 foreign-born American soldiers who earned post-humous American citizenship for dying in Iraq.

Onwordi died when his vehicle was blown up in Baghdad on August 2, 2004. He left behind a wife and baby boy.

Onwordi, who came to the US from Nigeria in July 2000, started his military training six months later. The 6-foot-4 Nigerian was later assigned to the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 12th Armoured Calvary Regiment, 1st Calvary Division, and was stationed at Ford Hood Texas.

He started his tour duty in Iraq in January. When his wife gave birth to a baby boy, he got two weeks’ leave on June 23 to visit his wife, Monique, and baby named Jonathan on July 7, 2004.

According to the Associated Press, certificates of citizenship were presented to the families of the victims at a memorial service conducted by a Roman Catholic Cardinal on Sunday in Lomita, Carlifonia, US.

Jose Gutierrez was one of the first to fall, killed by friendly fire in the dust of Umm Qasr in the opening hours of the invasion.

In death, the young Marine was showered with honours his family could only have dreamed of in life.

His sister was flown in from Guatemala for his memorial service, where a Roman Catholic cardinal presided and top military officials saluted his flag-draped coffin.

And yet, his foster mother agonised as she accompanied his body back for burial in Guatemala City: Why did Jose have to die for America in order to truly belong?

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, who oversaw Gutierrez’s service, put it differently.

“There is something terribly wrong with our immigration policies if it takes death on the battlefield in order to earn citizenship,”

Mahony wrote to President George W. Bush in April 2003.

He urged the president to grant immediate citizenship to all immigrants who sign up for military service in wartime.

“They should not have to wait until they are brought home in a casket,” Mahony said.

But as the war continues, more and more immigrants are becoming citizens in death — and more and more families are grappling with deeply conflicting feelings about exactly what the honour means.

Gutierrez’s citizenship certificate — dated to his death on March 21, 2003, — was presented during a memorial service in Lomita, Calif., to Nora Mosquera, who took in the orphaned teen after he had trekked through Central America, hopping freight trains through Mexico before illegally sneaking into the U.S.

“On the one hand I felt that citizenship was too late for him,” Mosquera said. “But I also felt grateful and very proud of him. I knew it would open doors for us as a family.”

“What use is a piece of paper?” cried Fredelinda Pena after another emotional naturalisation ceremony, this one in New York City where her brother’s framed citizenship certificate was handed to his distraught mother. Next to her, the infant daughter he had never met dozed in his fiancee’s arms.

Cpl. Juan Alcantara, 22, a native of the Dominican Republic, was killed Aug. 6, 2007, by an explosive in Baqouba. He was buried by a cardinal and eulogized by a congressman but to his sister, those tributes seemed as hollow as citizenship.

March 26, 2008 | 8:45 AM Comments  0 comments

Tags:
You must be logged in to add tags.


friday solomon's Profile

friday solomon's Friends


Latest Posts
POWER AND CREATIVE...
Top Hamas leader’s...
Nigerians are dying
NIGERIANS IN THE U.S....
Nigerians,others gets...

Monthly Archive
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
June 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
August 2008
March 2009

Change Language


Tags Archive
adventure christianity citizenship cnn demacracy ecomog fatah god hamas islam israel jerusalem jesus jews kenya love mohammed nigeria nigerians obasanjo palestine serbia thekingdomofgod tourisminnigeria u.s.a usmilitary war worldwar11 yaradua yugoslavia

Filter By Type
News
Travel
Topics

Friends
Andie
Anila Zahid
Atta ur Rehman Qureashi
Awais Aftab
AWellEarth.net
Bahamas National Youth Council
bahamaswriter
CHIDIEBERE
Claudia
CM
dave
Gerald Derome
GREEN PEN
Jennifer Corriero
Joel Kalpram
Joel Kalpram
Johnah Josiah
Joya Banerjee
Linda Rath-Wiggins
Manga Azah
Manuel
MARCKENSON
maryjn
Mburu
Mian A Amin
Mian A Amin
Mrs. Meagher
mumuni iddrisu
NARUTO
Olumide
Pascal Bekono
Quirz
Reality
Rina
Roderick R. Mckenzie
salam
victor
xe81406
Yuel Bhatti
¥ªsï® ßûTT

Links
www.mcwe.com
www.nigerianworld.com
www.rccg.org
www.urbannutrition.com


19963 views
Important Disclaimer