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for larger version       Fallen Soldier's Funeral Service Disrupted By Estranged Father
According to authorities, the argument broke out over two posthumous medals, a purple heart and a bronze star, that had been awarded to Sandra Montenegro, the dead soldier's mother, who lives in Wilson, by an Army official only minutes before.
"I've been at hockey games where a fight broke out, but never before at a funeral where a fight broke out," the reporter added. Uniformed men from various branches of the armed forces kept several family members separated in the church parking lot while others tried to intervene and restore the dignity of the service. Adozen units from the Wilson Police Department and Sheriff's deputies responded and restored order. Those police officers maintained a distance between the combatants at the subsequent funeral service at Evergreen Cemetery, where Montenegro was laid to rest. Keown told The Wave that the father was kept about 200 yards from the rest of the mourners as the military burial ceremony was carried out.
He was promoted to Sergeant in 2006. He had previously been awarded medals for service in Iraq, but Montenegro's sister, Jennifer, told Keown that he was her hero for the way he took over after their father left. "He was so special," she said. "After our dad left, he took it upon himself to be responsible and to teach us the right values. To me, he was my father. He took care of me, he took care of everybody, especially our mother." She said that her father surfaced again only after her brother's death was first reported.
Montenegro was the second local man to be killed in Iraq. In August of last year, Belle Harbor resident Lance Corporal Michael Dennis Glover, USMC, was killed by a sniper while trying to save other men in his platoon.
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