News-Info-Alerts

Re: Hernandez Gets Hitched

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: November 10, 2003

"Ex-POW Hernandez takes a bride

Maribel Villalva El Paso Times

Former POW Spc. Edgar Hernandez of Fort Bliss married Edleen Aguilera in a ceremony Saturday at Templo Fortaleza in Clint. The couple were reunited about a month after Hernandez's capture March 23 in southern Iraq.

In the three weeks this past spring that Army Spc. Edgar Hernandez was a prisoner of war in Iraq, the young Fort Bliss soldier felt pain, desperation and fear.

But in the quiet moments of the war, Edgar always thought of the young girl back in El Paso who had stolen his heart just months before he was deployed. Those were the moments that gave him strength, he said.

Saturday, 22-year-old Edgar married Edleen Aguilera, 18, in an elegant ceremony in Templo Fortaleza in Clint. The wedding was officiated by her father, Sergio Aguilera, who referred to Edgar as a "walking miracle" for having survived his three weeks in captivity.

The native of Alton, in the Rio Grande Valley, was one of six soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss captured March 23 during an Iraqi ambush near Nasiriyah. The captured soldiers were held with two Army helicopter pilots from Fort Hood who were caught the next day. And for the next three weeks, the seven prisoners of war found comfort in each other until their rescue April 13.

Before the wedding, a nervous Edgar waited for his bride to arrive outside of the church. After all of the anxiety Edgar felt during captivity, he said, he was glad his wedding could be a happy ending of sorts.

"I think she's the one that's going to cry first," he said. "I didn't think this day would ever come. I'm very happy."

Edgar was resplendent in his military dress uniform, complete with his Bronze Star, Purple Heart and prisoner of war medal. And when he finally got to see his bride walk down the aisle, he smiled from ear to ear.

The two were married at City Hall on June 27 -- the day Edgar re-enlisted in the Army -- but because the two are devout Christians, they did not consider their marriage official until they exchanged vows in a church. The couple will leave for a short honeymoon nearby, and then Edleen will move to San Antonio, where Edgar has been stationed since early August. For the past three months, he has been studying to be a dental assistant.

Jose Hernandez, Edgar's father, said the family was extremely happy for his son because of everything he had been through.

"Ever since he returned home alive and well, we have experienced so much joy," he said. "He's become a man, and we're very happy to see him get married."

Edgar sent wedding invitations to all of his fellow prisoners of war, but the only one who could attend the service was Cpl. Joseph Hudson. Hudson said Edgar constantly spoke to them about Edleen during their days in captivity.

"He was very much in love," Hudson said. "Even then, he said he wanted to come home and marry her."

Another high-profile member of the 507th, Pfc. Jessica Lynch, who was captured in the same ambush in Nasiriyah and rescued one week later by commandos, recently announced her engagement to Fort Bliss Army Sgt. Ruben Contreras, 24, a native of Colorado Springs, Colo. They plan to marry in June.

Edgar and Edleen met more than a year ago, when they were introduced to each other by Edleen's cousin. It was Edleen, however, who took the initiative and told the shy soldier how she felt. The pair immediately started dating. Edgar's deployment in February interrupted the couple's budding romance. But the young soldier took pictures of Edleen with him to Iraq. Those pictures were stolen by Iraqi soldiers. Also stolen were love letters Edleen wrote to Edgar while he was stationed in Kuwait. But a Marine who found those letters returned them to the couple, saying the letters touched his heart.

Capt. Troy King, commander of the 507th Maintenance Company, said before the wedding that Edgar has a quiet strength about him but that he was never shy to express how he felt about Edleen.

"When he first got back," King said, "he told me that he was happy he had found the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with."

Maribel Villalva may be reached at mvillalva@elpasotimes.com

©2003 El Paso Times, a Gannett Co., Inc."