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Community Corner

Hundreds Line Up to Watch Funeral Procession for RSM's Fallen Soldier

Locals gathered along Santa Margarita Parkway to honor Marine Cpl. Jordan Stanton, who died in Afghanistan March 4.

Hundreds of local residents lined up on a city street Thursday morning to pay their respects to a Rancho Santa Margarita resident who died in combat in Afghanistan March 4.

Parents and students from Mission Hills Christian School and Trabuco Hills High School, members of Cub Scout Pack 641 and other south Orange County residents gathered on Santa Margarita Parkway to watch the funeral procession for Marine Cpl. Jordan Stanton.

Stanton was killed during combat in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, March 4. He was 20.

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Stanton attended Melinda Heights Elementary School, Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate and Trabuco Hills High School, from which he graduated in 2008 before entering the U.S. Marine Corps. Many of those honoring him were students who were kept out of school by their parents.

Reno Lastimosa, a Trabuco Hills High senior, stood on Santa Margarita Parkway with his brother and held up a large American flag when the funeral procession passed by.

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The Lastimosa brothers said that they were friends with one of Stanton’s brothers and that they came out to support the family and honor Stanton.

 “Not everyone gets to honor our country and die for our country,” Reno said. “We have to honor him and what he did for us.”

Heading for San Francisco Solano Catholic Church, the funeral procession crossed the Santa Margarita Parkway Bridge about 10 a.m. It included a police escort, a hearse, the vehicles of close family and friends, and the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of motorcycle riders that honor members of the military.

Because of the procession, teachers at Mission Hills Christian School took hundreds of students on a brief field trip to see the motorcade along Santa Margarita Parkway.

"We are so proud to be able to give tribute to this local hero," said Carrie Gulino, interim principal at Mission Hills Christian. Gulino said that Stanton’s fiancée, Julie Dickson, was an alumni of the school.

The young students waved American flags and held signs with messages such as “Thank you 4 fighting for us Jordan” and “God loves you.”

 “We’re out here to honor that Marine who died in war, and to honor our country, to be thankful for what he’s (Stanton) done for us,” said Jordan Bishop, 13, an eighth grade student at Mission Hills.

Members of Cub Scout Pack 641 also gathered along Santa Margarita Parkway, holding flags and saluting when the funeral procession drove by.

Joe Menton, an Orange County Fire Authority Captain who volunteers with the Cub Scout Pack, said that it’s important for scouts to learn that the reason “we live, and have the things we have, is because of past military service—soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Locals also met along Antonio Parkway to watch the funeral procession.

Among them was Jim Ellison, a former Marine. "Once a Marine, always a Marine," Ellison said. "Show your respect for Rancho Santa Margarita." Ellison was there with his fiancee, Belinda Gomez, and her son, Christopher, 8, who was wearing his Cub Scout uniform from Den 4 of Pack 818.

Darlene Friestedt of RSM stood alongside her kids, Eric, 9, and Erin, 10. She said they were there "to honor our troops and the service that they gave for our freedom. I want my kids to understand that. ... In this day and age, there's so much commercialism that detracts our kids from the right things."

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