Funeral services have been held in northern New Jersey for an Army soldier killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan.
Hundreds gathered Monday at Our Lady of the Magnificat Roman Catholic church in Kinnelon to honor Spc. Jonathan Batista. He was later laid to rest in the church cemetery.
The 22-year-old paratrooper was on his first deployment to Afghanistan when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire in Kandahar province on July 8.
Batista grew up in Rutherford and moved to Kinnelon three years ago. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 321st Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
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