Soldier Found Goal in Service

Army Spc. Rel Allen Ravago IV was remembered at his funeral Saturday by tearful family and friends as a young man who said he had found his purpose in life by serving in the military in Iraq.

“He was 21 years old, yes, but he knew his purpose in life,” his aunt, Arlynn Solis, told the mourners. “A lot of us may never know our purpose in life, but he found his at an early age.”

The Glendale native joined the Army in 2000 after graduating from Hoover High School, telling his family he wanted to serve his country.

Ravago and Command Sgt. Maj. Jerry L. Wilson, 45, of Thompson, Ga., were fatally shot Nov. 23 in Mosul when a crowd attacked their vehicle. Military officials have denied reports that the crowd mutilated their bodies.

On Saturday, Ravago’s parents, Rel Alwyn Ravago, 45, and Mary Ann Ravago, 47, and his sister, Melanie Anne, 16, were surrounded by about 800 mourners at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

At the start of the service, seven soldiers in uniform slowly carried the Glendale soldier’s casket and placed it before 10 American flags outside the cemetery’s Hall of Liberty.

Army Sgt. Freeman Hodakowski, who met Ravago when the young man joined the military, said Ravago had been a hard-working soldier who also left an impression on the sergeant’s family. “During the holidays, he played with my boys and they loved him for that,” Hodakowski said.

The sergeant told mourners that Ravago had raised the morale of other troops in the 101st Airborne Division with his smile and that he had fought bravely as the unit made its way to Mosul.

“We became brothers, forged in combat,” Hodakowski said.

Searching for meaning, Ravago and Jason Juatco, his best friend since second grade, studied philosophy, religion and martial arts, Juatco said. The two decided that family and friends were the most important things in life.

“He was always there like a big brother,” Juatco said. “He wanted friends and family to unite.”

Ravago was the one whom family members went to for help solving conflicts, they said. From him, they learned to value each other.

“Families are where people learn to be who they are,” cousin Johanna Solis said. “And ... if it wasn’t for you, I would not be standing here, the person that I am.”

Some in the family said Ravago’s decision to join the military had been puzzling, because he was a talented artist who they expected would attend art school. But they understood his decision better when he wrote from Iraq, saying he felt he was making life better for the people there.

His death “will be a source of pain to me and my family forever,” said grandfather Leopoldo Ongcapin. But “I’m very proud of my grandson for his bravery and love of country for the sake of freedom.”