By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

WEARING gray shirts with the word “hero” printed on them, family members and friends welcomed home the remains of Marine Lance Cpl. Adam Emul on Saturday morning.
Emul would have been 20 years old on March 7 but his life was cut short on Jan. 29 from wounds he sustained while on foot patrol in Anbar province in Iraq.
He was the fourth American casualty from the Northern Marianas and the 15th from the Pacific region since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
He will be laid to rest at the CNMI’s Veterans Cemetery today.
Originally from Tanapag, Emul and his sister moved to Vancouver, Washington with their mother in 2003.
His father, Wayne, who rarely saw his son since their relocation to the U.S., blames President Bush’s war policy for Emul’s untimely death.
“I don’t like (Bush) — I just lost a son,” said the father who works at a bank on Saipan.
Emul was just 18 months out of high school when he entered the military.
Emul, according to his relatives, expressed concern about the difficult lives that Iraqis had to face each day.
His relatives said he would ask them to send him candy which he would give to Iraqi children during his squad’s foot patrols.
It was during his patrol duty that a hidden bomb exploded on Jan. 29.
A hero’s welcome was given to Emul when his remains returned to the place he called home.
Eight Marines carried his casket clothed with the U.S. Flag.
His parents and relatives, along with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, first lady Josie Fitial, Vice Speaker Justo S. Quitugua, D-Saipan, and Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero, R-Saipan, were among those who paid their respects at the airport during the reception ceremony.
Outside, a motorcade expressing support for Iraqi freedom and the thousands of servicemembers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan also paid their respects to the young fallen hero, waving both the national and commonwealth flags.