“Waking up to see him every morning, smiling and laughing over a cup of coffee,” said his widow, Brenda Manglona, as she recalled one of her fondest memories about her husband.
Mrs. Manglona said a few hours before her husband died, she received his e-mail and talked to him over the phone.
“It was a very normal conversation,” she said, adding that they talked of going together to their favorite places once his tour of duty ended.
In the Saipan airport lobby, while family members waited for the 30-seat Freedom Air plane chartered by the Tinian municipal government to take them to Tinian, Department of Public Safety personnel and honor guards stood in attention at the tarmac to wait for the arrival of the plane carrying their comrade’s casket.
Manglona was a police officer.
His white casket was wrapped in a U.S. flag and was taken to a seven-seat Freedom Air plane for a “fly over” from Saipan to Tinian, where the fallen soldier spent most of his life.
The family members were flown to Tinian where they waited for the arrival of Staff Sgt. Manglona’s casket.
Amjad Farhoud, one of the senior pilots of Freedom Air, flew the plane that carried the casket.
DPS Commission Santiago F. Tudela said he dispatched 12 personnel from Saipan to escort the fallen soldier’s casket.
From the Tinian airport, Staff Sgt. Manglona’s casket was brought to the Manglona residence chapel in San Jose where family, relatives, neighbors and friends were waiting.
A police patrol car followed by Father Isidro Ogumoro’s vehicle led the convoy of more than 50 vehicles.
Retired Staff Sgt Ike Palacios noted that “Julian used to be one of the honor guards and now he’s the one being honored.”
“We know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent, should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven,” Father Ogumoro said in his brief homily.
Staff Sgt. Manglona’s cousin, Police Officer Detective Katherine Manglona, said she worked with the fallen soldier.
“He had strong leadership skills. He will be missed by all his peers,” she said.
Rep. Edwin P. Aldan, a former police officer of Tinian, said he worked side by side with Staff Sgt. Manglona for 14 years.
“He was very committed to his work. He loved the military and was very patriotic.”
Staff Sgt. Manglona’s father, Vicente Manglona, could not forget the last request of his son who made a phone call from Texas: “Dad can you please finish the project?”
Staff Sgt. Manglona was referring to the second floor of their unfinished house.
His casket was flown back to Saipan yesterday afternoon.
His memorial service is scheduled for Oct 27 at Mt. Carmel Cathedral. He will be laid to rest at the CNMI Veterans Cemetery.
