Departed Soldier a 'Saint for All Times'

Father Anthony Randazzo told those gathered for the funeral Mass of U.S. Army Sgt. Derek T. McConnell at Notre Dame Parish in North Caldwell Tuesday morning that “a saint for all times has crossed our paths.”

McConnell, 23, died unexpectedly of still unknown causes on March 18. He had been seriously wounded when he came across improvised explosive devices while serving in Afghanistan in July 2011. After nearly two years of surgeries and therapies, McConnell was seemingly on the road to recovery and engaged to be married to his high school sweetheart.

“Shock and numbness has been our eternal state upon hearing of the death of our beloved Derek,” Randazzo said. “I must underline ‘beloved’ Derek.”

McConnell graduated from West Essex High School in the borough in 2008 and attended Notre Dame Church, where he was an altar server. His after his long Maryland hospital stay.

The wounded soldier had visited the church not too long ago, Randazzo said. During that visit, he told the priest how he wished to put a statue of his grandmother and great grandmother on the property.

Randazzo called McConnell an inspiration to others to be the best child of God possible.

“Derek’s triumph over catastrophic odds inspired every part of the human heart,” he said.

Seated in the front of the church were McConnell’s mother, Siobhan Fuller-McConnell, his fiancé, Krystina Dressler and his four siblings, Michael, Kellina, Ryan and Sean.

As she prepared to help serve communion, the Gold Star mother placed her hand for a moment on the coffin covered with a white cloth.

She later went up to the altar to share memories about Derek, reading from A Letter to My Son, My Hero, which she posted on the D.C. Military Family Life website on March 20.

The letter reads in part:

“The world was a better place with you in it. The people who knew you are better for having you as part of their lives. The world will never be the same. The world is a darker, sadder place now that you are gone.” 

“The emotions, stories, love expressed during our last two days at Walter Reed was overwhelming. The tears shed could fill the Potomac. The laughs as we told our Derek stories still ring through the halls. Everyone who knew you, loved you.”

The contemporary North Caldwell church was filled with sunlight and hundreds of mourners, including many fellow servicemen and women, members of local police and fire departments, representatives from local government, friends and family.

With the chorus singing “On Eagle’s Wings,” McConnell’s coffin was draped with the American flag and saluted as it exited the sanctuary.

McConnell, who according to his mother wanted to be laid to rest at "home," was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington in an area with other soldiers.

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