Hero Mission Procession Route for Thursday, October 25th
According to Honoring Our Fallen, the Hero Mission procession will leave the Joint Forces Training Base via Lexington in Los Alamitos sometime after 12:00 P.M. to 12:15 P.M.
The procession will travel:
-North on Lexington Drive to Cerritos Avenue and will turn left on Cerritos Avenue heading west past Mc Auliffe Middle School and Los Alamitos High School, his Alma Mater
-Turn right onto Los Alamitos Boulevard/Norwalk Boulevard traveling north to Carson Street/Lincoln Avenue
-Turn right on Carson Street/Lincoln Avenue to Denni Street and the entrance to Forest Lawn, Cypress
Vehicle and pedestrian traffic is expected to be heavily impacted and delayed along these routes. Please plan accordingly.
THE LOS ALAMITOS COMMUNITY REMEMBERS LOCAL ARMY RANGER
(Los Alamitos, CA) – The City of Los Alamitos, the Los Alamitos Unified School District, and the Joint Forces Training Base invites the community to honor the life of Army Ranger Sgt. Thomas R. MacPherson on the Joint Forces Training Base Army Airfield on Thursday, October 25 at 11:30 a.m., with planeside honors, commonly called a “Hero Mission.” Community members planning to attend the Hero Mission should arrive by 10:30 a.m. to park and walk to the Airfield.
Sgt. MacPherson was killed during combat operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom on October 12, 2012.
Sgt. MacPherson, who was 26 years old and a graduate of Los Alamitos High School, was killed by small arms fire in the Ghazni Province in Afghanistan as he led an assault against an enemy position, U.S. Army officials said. Los Alamitos High School counselor Tina Hereen remembers Sgt. MacPherson as, “An amazing young man filled with a contagious smile and his character was one that you would hope others including your own children, could emulate. I will never forget his genuineness and feeling of him caring more about how my day was when he came into my office than the reverse.“
MacPherson was a team leader assigned to Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. This was his fourth deployment to Afghanistan and he had also previously served one deployment in Iraq.
Sgt. MacPherson is survived by his wife, Claudia MacPherson, and their son, Brayden, of Tacoma, Wash., and his parents, Troy and Diona MacPherson of Long Beach.
The funeral is scheduled for the next day on October 26 at Cottonwood Church located at 4505 Katella Avenue in Los Alamitos. Media should contact Sgt. 1st Class Jessica Inigo at (562) 795-2777 or at (916) 548-7945. Though media are invited, the family asks not to be interviewed or questioned during the ceremony.