BLAINE, Minn. — Saturday, hundreds gathered at the Blaine Veterans Memorial to pay their respects to the family of U.S. Army Specialist Eric Finniginam, a 26-year-old soldier who died in combat shortly after earning his U.S. citizenship, in 2010.
Finniginam was born and raised in Yap, a state in the Oceanic country of Micronesia. His mother, who attended Saturday's memorial service, said, "Since he was a little boy, he wanted to be a soldier...he could pretend he was in a war zone all by himself for hours.”
Finniginam enlisted in the military to earn his U.S. citizenship. That's where he met his brother in arms, Eric Bakken. They quickly bonded.
“Meeting Finn changed my life," Bakken said. "To be honest, I'm not too sure of very many people whose lives weren’t made better by knowing or serving with specialist Eric Finniginam.”
Bakken welcomed Finniginam into his Minnesotan family, taking him hunting and ice fishing.
"Over time, it just became very apparent to my family that he was a part of the family now, so my mom called him 'son' and he called my 'mom,'" Bakken said at the memorial service. "They had a cool little relationship and every once in awhile, I'd get a little jealous because his care packages while we were in Afghanistan might’ve seemed a little better than mine.”
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Bakken said losing Finniginam was the worst pain he'd ever experienced in his life. Bakken made it his mission to honor Finniginam, eventually raising $30,000 to fund a memorial bench in Finniginam's name, as well as airfare and accommodations for Finn's family, who came the memorial service from nearly 7,000 miles away.
"The amount of money that [Bakken] had to raise to make this happen is unbelievable," said Steve Guider, the president of the Veterans Memorial Park of Blaine. "Just to watch the looks on the family members' faces as this whole program went on was priceless."
Finniginam's mother said words could not express how grateful she was for the ceremony and opportunity to attend.
“I'm beyond blessed with the legacy my son has left behind and friends he made throughout his time in the army who I now call my family as well.”