NEW YORK — When Carolina Flores saw two men in military uniforms approach her friend’s house across the street, she had a feeling something was wrong. Her friend Carol Acevedo’s daughter was serving in the Middle East.
“Once they closed the door, we just heard her screaming,” Flores said.
The men had come to deliver the news that 28-year-old Angel S. Rampersad, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, was killed July 17 in an attack on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. She was one of four American soldiers killed overseas in the last month.
And just like that, a faraway war hit home in Ozone Park, Queens.
It’s one of the most diverse places in the country. At a vigil for Rampersad Monday, dozens of neighbors from countries such as Colombia and Morocco gathered around the family’s two-story home on a tree-lined street corner as the sun began to set. They lit candles, sang and prayed as an American flag waved at half staff.
First responders and community members lined the nearby sidewalks Friday to salute her flag-draped casket as it passed by, headed to funeral services at Calvary Assembly of God Church, just half a mile from Rampersad’s home. Those who eulogized her said she wouldn’t believe all the recognition she was receiving.
Rampersad was born in Trinidad. Her mother brought her to the U.S. when she was 2 years old. As she got older, she was fiercely determined to serve her adopted country, according to the relatives, friends and community leaders who spoke about her.
“ Angel Rampersad was not born in the United States of America, but Angel Rampersad was willing to die for the United States of America,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. “That’s how strongly she felt about America, not just the place, but the idea of what this country could be.”
Rampersad was eager enough to join the military that she tried to enlist at 18, before her mother was ready to let her go, according to her aunt, Judy Rackal.
“She was unable at 18 to sign up for the military without her mom’s permission, so a few days after her 21st birthday, she made an appointment with the recruiter and signed up on her own,” Rackal recounted at a press conference late last week.
Rampersad was assigned to the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, and served in Hawaii and Germany before being deployed to the Middle East. Over the course of seven years, she earned several awards, including the Army Commendation Medal, according to the U.S. Department of War.
In Jordan, she worked on military communication systems — a path her close family friend, Army veteran Deo Singh, advised her to take because it was “kind of behind the line and it’s safer,” he said.
Rampersad was posthumously promoted to staff sergeant.
“ My daughter was a good soldier. She fought for this country and she died for this country, and I am a mother that is highly proud of her,” Carol Acevedo said at the vigil, her voice wavering with emotion. “I know she was really, really focused on what she was doing. She loved it.”
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Aside from Rampersad’s military service, she was remembered for her strong ties to her community, where she was the drummer at her local church and played on her high school’s softball and bowling teams.
Her family said she studied at Queensborough Community College for two years before graduating from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. She then enlisted in the military.
“ Angel was always a happy, contented, and calm person all through her life. In the face of every crisis that her family encountered, she would be the calming element all the time,” Rackal, her aunt, added.
At the funeral Friday, Acevedo spoke briefly, through tears.
“Love your kids, hug them. I don’t have mine to hug anymore,” she said. “But to those who have, embrace them, cherish them and be there for them. They will need guidance.”
