Body of Marine killed in Afghanistan returns home to Long Island
GLEN HEAD, Long Island (WABC) -- The body of a Marine from Long Island who was among three U.S. service members killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan last week is back home Friday.
A motorcade transported the remains of Marine Sgt. Robert Hendriks from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to the Whitting Funeral Home in Glen Head. Firefighters lined the overpasses as the procession made its way.
The Locust Valley resident died along with Staff Sgt. Christopher Slutman, of the Bronx, and Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines, of York, Pennsylvania.
Video from Afghanistan showed some of the wreckage after the roadside bomb exploded.
Hendriks was just 25 years old and joined the military after graduating Locust Valley High School. He is being remembered as a hard-working man with a big heart.
"He was my best friend," Christopher Tasso said. "He'll continue to be a compass for me as I continue on, along with everybody else he was close to."
Mary Guastella is a close friend of Hendriks' mother.
"Distraught," she said. "Words can't describe losing a child. It's really bad."
Hendriks' brother is also a Marine.
"Monday evening, the knock on the door no parent ever should hear came," their mother said in a text message. "We are inconsolable and broken into a million pieces. But I am and always will be proud to call my sons United States Marines."
A wake for Hendriks will be held next Tuesday at the funeral home, and he will be laid to rest Wednesday at Calverton National Cemetery.
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