Hundreds of Patriot Guard Riders lined the streets Wednesday evening, escorting the body of a San Diego sailor killed on board USS Fitzgerald to his final resting place.
The body of Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Sibayan, 23, returned home to San Diego was escorted from San Diego International Airport to Sibayan's hometown in Chula Vista. The body was taken to a mortuary.
Lieutenant Commander Henry Martinez lives in Sibayan's hometown of Chula Vista. He was one of many who came out for the escort.
“It’s a loss to our community and our country," said Martinez. "He served our country and paid the ultimate price for our freedom.”
On his final journey home, Sibayan was in the company of his fellow service members who honor members of the military who lost their lives.
“ In my eyes, every one of them is a hero," said Army veteran Lorenzo Lizarraga, a Patriot Guard rider. “They stepped forward and said, 'I will serve. I will protect.'"
For Lizarraga, coming to escort the body was an emotional duty.
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“It’s a sadness and I have teared up many a time, many a time," Lizarraga said about Sibayan’s death.
Sibayan was less than a month from returning home when he died. The 23-year-old had been in the Navy for four years and spent three of those years in Japan. He was one of two San Diego sailors killed in the crash with a cargo ship, and one of seven killed in the crash.
His mother, Carmen, told NBC 7 that her son was her hero, and she could not be more proud of him.
“If you never met my son, you missed a whole lot,” she said. “In every sense of the word, he is my hero.”
She said her son became the father of the family when his father was away. He always had her back, she said, no matter what.
“I just wish that I could hold him again,” Carmen cried with her family around her. “But we have to accept it. We just borrowed this time from God so now he has to go back."
Sibayan’s funeral is scheduled for July 8th.
