Hundreds attend funeral for Maine soldier

PORTLAND – Hundreds packed Sacred Heart Church to pay last respects Wednesday to Lance Cpl. Angel Rosa, the 21-year-old Marine killed in action in Iraq.

Gov. John Baldacci joined Rosa’s friends and family members for a funeral Mass at the church where Rosa had planned a Roman Catholic wedding ceremony to sanctify his marriage to his wife, Elise. Elise and Angel Rosa were married last May in a civil ceremony at South Portland City Hall.

The 2004 South Portland High School graduate who enlisted in the Marines just over a year ago died March 13 in fighting in Anbar province.

“I think today Maine is suffering a broken heart,” Baldacci said outside the church. He said he told Rosa’s wife and mother that “we’re all having a heavy heart today in our state and we just want them to know that we’re out there supporting them, being like a safety net.”

Elise Rosa and other family members walked behind the flag-draped casket as it was accompanied by a military honor guard.

Rosa, the captain of the South Portland soccer team during his senior year, was considering a career as a police officer or firefighter after completing his tour of duty.

Promoted posthumously from private first class, Rosa was remembered for his activities as a community volunteer, both as a referee for the youth soccer program and his work with Latino immigrant children at Sacred Heart Parish.

Baldacci had ordered flags throughout Maine lowered to half-staff on the day of Rosa’s funeral.

A man and a woman from a fringe church group in Kansas that preaches an anti-gay message were in the area, carrying signs that read “Pray for More Dead Soldiers” and “God Hates America.”

Scores of members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a motorcycle group that turns out at funerals of troops killed in Iraq, were lined up near the church. The bikers often serve as a barrier between mourners and protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church who picket at military funerals.

The Topeka, Kan., couple, who identified themselves as Steve and Luci Drain, were barred by police from approaching within a couple blocks of Sacred Heart Church, and they left the area after the funeral began.

The Westboro church said it sends delegates to military funerals to express its belief that American soldiers are being struck down by God as retribution for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

funeral Wednesday in Portland. Rosa was killed in combat in Iraq’s Anbar province.