SOLDIER, 18, MOURNED 'HIS WAY'

SAN LUIS OBISPO - In a couple weeks, Spc. Michael Mihalakis was supposed to return from Baghdad to a jubilant ''welcome home'' party at his Cuesta College schoolmates' house in San Luis Obispo.

And even though Mihalakis died in a noncombat traffic accident Dec. 26, his friends are still going to line up a live rock band and a couple kegs in his honor.

''We were so excited for him to come home,'' said Devin Aloise, 19. ''But we're going to do everything Mikey wanted us to do (at the party). We'll play some videos he's in and have some laughs.'' Bemoaning Mihalakis' death is not something he wanted. The 18-year-old military policeman said as much in a letter written to his parents, only to be opened if he died.

Still, that didn't stop the tears from flowing at his standing-room-only funeral service earlier this week at a Fremont mortuary. The commander of the California National Guard, Maj. Gen. Paul Monroe, wept as a family friend read Mihalakis' letter describing his passion for being a soldier.

''Everyone sooner or later has to depart this world,'' Mihalakis wrote in the letter, opened five days after his death. ''I'm glad I did it defending this great country. I can promise you as I took my last breath, I did not hesitate about the decision I made.'' About 300 people -- including two National Guard generals and more than a dozen family members from San Luis Obispo County -- attended the service at Cedar Lawn Memorial Park. He graduated from Milpitas High School in 2002 and joined the National Guard at the age of 17 while a student at Cuesta College.

''He said he wanted to see what kind of man he was, so he decided to join the military,'' said his father, George Mihalakis. His parents, now living in San Jose, are Arroyo Grande High School and Cal Poly alumni. Michael Mihalakis, who attended Los Ranchos Elementary School in San Luis Obispo, is the first county resident to die during recent military operations in Iraq.

Inside the mortuary on Monday, a backdrop of red and white roses with blue ribbons matched the star-spangled flag that adorned the fallen soldier's casket. Family members reflected on their fun memories of a patriotic man who loved to play his guitar and shoot clay pigeons.

Michael Mihalakis' sister, Kristine, recalled when she put her little brother in a box and tried to mail him. And then there was the time she dressed him in girls' clothing and had ''Mikey'' do dance routines. That elicited some chuckles from the crowd.

In fall 2002, Michael Mihalakis joined the 649th Military Police Company at Camp San Luis Obispo. He was sent to the Middle East last spring and recently served at Baghdad International Airport. It was there that his Humvee hit a traffic berm and flipped, ejecting him.

''It's just ironic -- we're shot at all the time,'' said Monroe, the major general. ''But he had an accident in a Humvee and died. This is never easy.'' Michael Mihalakis died amid the rain and fog. But on Monday, he was memorialized here under a cloudless, blue sky. During the later graveside service, the National Guard buried him with full military honors, including the playing of ''Taps'' and a 21-shot salute. Monroe presented family members with the Bronze Star, an honor for soldiers who act with heroism during wartime. It's a small symbol for the family to remember one of two recent tragedies. In September, the soldier's 20-year-old sister, Carly, who has been blind since age 2, was nearly killed in Denver when a car hit her as she was walking across a street. She suffered massive head injuries and was in a coma up until a few weeks ago.

''We almost lost both of them in three months,'' their father, George Mihalakis, said in an interview with The San Luis Obispo Tribune. In the weeks after the accident, military officers allowed Michael Mihalakis to visit his sister for four weeks before going back to Iraq. It was the last time George Mihalakis saw his son, and he remembered the parting words of advice: ''Watch your back and don't get your ass shot off.'' He died the day after Christmas -- just two weeks away from coming home.