The body of Pfc. Christopher Ian Walz returned home Thursday afternoon, 16 days after the Vancouver soldier was killed in Afghanistan.
A small charter jet touched down at Portland International Airport at about 1 p.m. bearing Walz’s body from Dover (Del.) Air Force Base, site of a military mortuary center.
Walz’s body was accompanied on the flight by Army Reserve Pfc. Angel Almanza, a longtime friend.
The jet taxied up to a hangar at the Portland Air National Guard Base, where members of Walz’s family, a U.S. Army honor guard and dozens of flag-bearing volunteer escorts were waiting.
After several minutes, a side door of the Fan Jet Falcon opened. The flight crew removed a hoist and set it up next to the aircraft. Then Walz’s coffin was placed on the hoist and lowered as the soldier’s mother, Victoria Walz, and ex-wife, Katrina Walz, watched.
Slowly, solemnly, six soldiers marched up to the flag-draped coffin. They picked it up and carried it to a waiting hearse from Vancouver’s Evergreen Memorial Gardens Funeral Chapel.
Victoria Walz walked up and gently touched her son’s coffin just before the honor guard placed it in the black hearse.
Then, accompanied by about 50 motorcyclists from the Patriot Guard Riders and the Oregon Veterans Motorcycle Association, as well as law enforcement officers, the hearse drove out of the hangar.
As it headed for the gate, the procession passed a formation of base personnel lined up at attention along the access road.
Later, at an evening gathering, Victoria Walz said she was struck by that unexpected tribute.
“All those soldiers saluting along the road was a real honor,” she said. “And the police and fire departments did a beautiful job. How thankful I am for what they did.”
The motorcycle escort accompanied Walz’s remains along Interstate 205 to Vancouver, where the procession was greeted by an American flag suspended from a Vancouver Fire Department ladder truck parked on an overpass.
Friends and family members gathered a few hours later in the funeral chapel to spend a little more time with Walz, whose coffin was flanked by roses.
Victoria Walz said her son recognized the dangers that come with military service. “He knew that each day could be his last day,” she said.
Still, “He really enjoyed interacting with the locals” in Afghanistan, said Almanza, a friend of Walz’s since the ninth grade. “They genuinely enjoyed the experience.”
Almanza said he’d been waiting for the chance to accompany Walz’s body back home ever since he heard about his death.
“I’ve been packed for a week and a half,” he said.
Walz wasn’t the only fallen soldier on that plane.
“There was a sergeant on board escorting another coffin. He was going home to another town in Washington,” Almanza said.
Almanza’s reserve unit hasn’t been activated yet, but the 25-year-old Vancouver man said he’s looking forward to it.
“I’d like to be deployed. Not out of revenge,” Almanza said, “but to do my part. Like Ian did.”
Walz was a member of the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 2nd Infantry Division, based at Fort Lewis, just south of Tacoma.
Walz and six other soldiers were killed Oct. 27 when their vehicle was destroyed by a roadside bomb in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar.
The seven soldiers were honored by President Barack Obama when their remains arrived at Dover two weeks ago. They were eulogized Tuesday at Fort Lewis in a ceremony that included Vice President Joe Biden.
Walz’s funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at the Portland Air National Guard Base, 6801 N.E. Cornfoot Road, just north of Columbia Boulevard and east of 47th Avenue. The ceremony at the pavilion will be followed by a reception in the gymnasium.
Walz, 25, graduated from Hudson’s Bay High School in 2002 and earned an associate’s degree at Clark College.
He joined the Army on Sept. 4, 2008, and was deployed to Afghanistan in July. Walz was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
