San Jose soldier’s body returns home

A small, white jet flying into a strong wind Wednesday afternoon landed at Moffett Federal Airfield and delivered the remains of a San Jose soldier to his mother, who stood patiently for an honor guard to bring her the casket bearing her only child.

There were no speeches, bugles or drums; just an officer calling out orders to the honor guard. A few hundred people stood quietly with Cheryl Walsh and her former husband, Kenneth Walsh, through the military ritual conducted with precision and almost total silence.

Sean Walsh, 21, died in battle in Afghanistan two weeks ago. Wednesday, he came home.

Before the ceremony, Cheryl Walsh talked about Sean with local reporters in a spartan conference room on the base. She recalled the day Sean told her he wanted to join the California National Guard. He was 17 and dreamed of becoming a police officer some day. Serving as a military police officer first, she said, would be his steppingstone to the profession.

“I was terrified and I was trying to talk him out of that,” she said. Going back three generations, she said, several family members had served in the armed forces and fought in combat, including an uncle who died in Korea. “I knew, and I was worried,” she said.

Sean’s unit, the 185th Military Police Battalion, was nearing the end of its tour in remote Khost province when insurgents launched a mortar attack. Maj. Jonathan Masaki Shiroma, who attended the Wednesday news conference, said other soldiers were wounded in the attack. Sean was the second California National Guardsman killed in action in Afghanistan.

Fighting back tears and mostly succeeding, Cheryl Walsh described her son as a “loving and happy” young man who was quick to make friendships.

“My son spent a lot of time trying to fit in,” she said. “He loved me no matter what I looked like, no matter what I did.”

She said she and Sean had a ritual for every goodbye between them.

“One of us would say, ‘I love you,’ and the other would say, ‘I love you more.’ ”

She brought along Sean’s dog, a German shepherd named Lena, who spent the interview sitting quietly under the table.

“My favorite photo of Sean is with him and Lena sitting on a hill,” she said, breaking down for the only time during the interview.

A pharmaceutical representative, Walsh grew up in New York before moving to Upland, a suburb east of Los Angeles, where Sean was born. The family moved to San Jose in 1994.

She said Sean had twin passions early in life. As a boy, he loved to ride skateboards. As a teenager, he served for four years in a junior cadet unit with the Santa Clara Police Department. He attended Prospect High School at the same time.

“I don’t know where it came from, but he had a passion for law enforcement,” said one Santa Clara officer who attended the ceremony at Moffett. Cheryl Walsh’s interview lasted only 15 minutes. She had received many requests for interviews and, after consulting family members, decided she would speak for the family.

“I believe it was better to do it all at once and with respect for Sean, kind of dignified in a way. He would have wanted it this way.”

She left the room with Lena in tow and was driven to a restricted area near a runway on the air base. By then, about 200 guardsmen in camouflage fatigues had lined up in formation. Dozens of military veterans, some wearing blazers and some in leather motorcycle vests, showed up with American flags. Six fire engines lined the runway. Everyone stood quietly after the small jet landed and throughout the military observance.

The pilots lowered Walsh’s, flag-draped casket onto the tarmac. The honor guard rolled it to his family, who hugged and wiped away tears. Then two men from Oak Hill Cemetery rolled his casket into a hearse, which then led a large escort from the air base away and onto a freeway. His funeral is Saturday.