U.S. Army Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park was killed in action on July 17 during an Iranian missile attack in Jordan.
Photo courtesy of the Department of War
Our military is a completely volunteer force. The people who choose to wear the uniform, like Queens staff Sergeant Angel Rampersad of the U.S. Army, do so because they have an overwhelming desire to serve their country.
That desire to put one’s life on the line in defense of their country is rooted largely on love and patriotism. Too many Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice because they made that selfless, loving choice; Rampersad, sadly, counts among them.
She was killed last month while stationed in Jordan in an Iranian missile attack. It was a devastating loss for the Ozone Park community where she lived and grew up and developed that selfless love of country that brought her into the military.
Rampersad was not a native Queens resident; she was born in Trinidad and emigrated here as a child. By all accounts, she became an active member of the community she loved, dedicated to service and always putting their needs before her own.
At a recent vigil, family members recalled how devoted Rampersad was and determined to join the military. She enlisted in the Army seven years ago, shortly after turning 21. At her funeral on Friday, General Glenn Henke, commander of the 10th Army Air Missile Defense Command, recalled that every one of Rampersad’s “leaders talked about how she was exceptionally motivated.”
“Rampersad had the potential to go as far in the Army as she decided to go,” Henke said. “Nothing was going to stand in her way.”
The late staff sergeant’s mother, Carol Acevedo, put it more succinctly and poignantly: “My daughter was a real hero.”
And, as Gov. Kathy Hochul pointed out during the service, Rampersad is just one of thousands of immigrants in America today who have chosen a life of service to the U.S. military, demonstrating their love and patriotism of their adopted country, “and are willing to shed blood for a country that they were not born in.”
It is important for all of us to remember that in a time when we have masked, armed ICE agents detaining people in immigration court hallways and on the streets of this city. It is important for all of us to remember that amid the belligerent anti-immigrant rhetoric from the White House that focuses on what it says are “the worst of the worst” while ignoring the best of the best, like Angel Rampersad.
Someday, the war with Iran will end. So too will the immigration crackdown. And someday we hope that this nation of immigrants will rededicate itself to the selfless love and patriotism that she demonstrated, and be touched by what Abraham Lincoln called in his first inaugural address “the better angels of our nature.”
amNewYork
Source link