By Paul Leighton
BEVERLY — The wake for Army Spc. Stephen Fortunato will be held at the high school field house on Thursday to accommodate the large crowds expected to pay their respects to the fallen soldier.
The wake will be held from 3 to 8 p.m., according to Campbell, Lee, Moody, Russell Funeral Home. The funeral is scheduled for Friday at 11 a.m. from St. Mary Star of the Sea Church on Cabot Street.
Fortunato died Oct. 14 at the age of 25 from wounds suffered when a roadside bomb destroyed the military vehicle in which he was riding in Qazi Bandeh, Afghanistan. He was an infantryman with the 1st Infantry Division. Two other soldiers were also killed in the blast.
Fortunato, a 2002 Beverly High School graduate, is the first Beverly serviceman to die in combat since the Vietnam War. His body is now at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and is scheduled to be flown to Hanscom Air Force Base tomorrow.
Details of Friday's funeral service are being worked out. The city's veterans' agent, Jerry Guilebbe, said a horse-drawn caisson will carry Fortunato's flag-draped casket. The funeral procession will pass under a large American flag draped over two 70-foot-high ladders atop firetrucks.
Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery on Brimbal Avenue.
