FORT DRUM — As a light wind blew across Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield, all that could be heard were cries of grief from the family of Sgt. Daniel A. Rodriguez as his casket was lowered from a charter plane.

“Daniel ... Danny ... please, Danny!” screamed an elderly woman in a wheelchair as several relatives tried to console her.

With several thousand soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division and hundreds of motorcyclists from the Patriot Riders paying their respects, about 15 members of Sgt. Rodriguez’s family gathered for the fallen soldier’s final return home in a somber ceremony Sunday evening.

Sgt. Rodriguez, 28, of Baltimore, was killed on July 18 in Ghazni City, Afghanistan, when the vehicle he was riding in was hit by an improvised explosive device. The attack also killed one other soldier and injured at least one more.

Sgt. Rodriguez was a heavy vehicle driver with the 110th Transportation Company, 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade.

Meeting the Rodriguez family Sunday were post leaders, including Maj. Gen. Mark A. Milley, the division’s commander. An Army chaplain could be seen praying with the family as Sgt. Rodriguez’s flag-draped casket was carried from the plane to a waiting hearse.

The family was then taken by police escort to Lundy Funeral Home in Carthage as soldiers standing at attention stretched for more than a mile.

Also joining the ceremonial procession were the Patriot Riders on their motorcycles, along with state police, Jefferson County sheriff’s personnel and Carthage police and firefighters.

A public procession for Sgt. Rodriguez will take place in Carthage on Tuesday, starting between 2 and 2:30 p.m. His hearse will travel from the funeral home, 500 State St., into West Carthage, turning right on North Broad Street, left on Route 126 and continuing to Watertown, where Sgt. Rodriguez will be buried in Brookside Cemetery.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer