Family and friends pay final respects to Niles native who was killed in Iraq

The Warren JFK graduate was described as an outstanding commander who was loved by his troops.
STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Mourners placed a single purple flower and a military coin on top of Lt. Col. Dominic Baragona's silver coffin as family members filed by to say a final goodbye.
Baragona, 42, a Niles native and one of at least seven Ohio soldiers killed in Iraq, was commanding officer of the Army's 19th Maintenance Battalion at Fort Sill, Okla.
Baragona, known as "Rocky," was killed May 19 near Safwan, Iraq, when a tractor-trailer jackknifed and collided with Baragona's Humvee while he was traveling in a convoy to Kuwait.
"Rocky was a man of tremendous passion and of tremendous integrity. It was those qualities that set him apart," said Brig. Gen. Brian Gehan, a friend of Baragona's who commands the Army's I Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Family members said he was scheduled to return home from Kuwait in a few days.
Service
On Wednesday, a horse-drawn carriage brought his flag-draped coffin to the southern part of Arlington National Cemetery, where 22 other soldiers killed during the Iraq war already have been buried. Baragona was buried with full military honors.
The U.S. Army Band played "Holy, Holy, Holy" as eight servicemen carried the casket to the grave site. More than 60 family members and friends followed behind.
Brig. Gen. Richard P. Formica, who was Baragona's commanding officer at Fort Sill, said he could always count on Baragona for seasoned, mature and candid advice.
"Sometimes it wasn't the advice that I wanted to hear, but that I needed to hear," Formica said, adding it was because of Baragona's expertise that his soldiers were ready for war.
"He was an outstanding commander. He loved his soldiers and they loved him," Formica said. "Those of us who served with him will remember him as a soldier, commander and as a team player. Those of us who knew him will remember him as a friend."
Honored
Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, told Baragona's parents, Dominic and Vilma, he honored Baragona both as a soldier and as a father who also has lost a child. DeWine's 22-year-old daughter, Becky, died in a car crash in 1993.
The colonel is the second of seven children his parents have lost. An 8-year-old sibling died of leukemia, according to Baragona's father.
Dominic Baragona has described his son as someone who made a big deal of getting his family together for Christmas, and was an avid Cleveland Browns and Indians fan. His middle name, Rocco, was chosen for popular Indians slugger Rocky Colavito, and he went by the nickname "Rocky."
At the funeral, Baragona was given a three-gun volley and a tribute by a lone bugler. A folded flag, bronze star and meritorious service medal were presented to his family.
Baragona attended John F. Kennedy High School in Warren and graduated from West Point in 1982. The career officer's overseas duty stations included Germany and Korea.
Baragona, who was divorced, leaves his parents, who now live in St. George Island, Fla., and five brothers and sisters.
He still has relatives in the Niles area.