NEW YORK April 22, 2004 -- Marine Staff Sgt. Riayan Tejeda, a Dominican citizen who died for the United States in Iraq, "pledged his loyalty and ultimately his life to his adopted nation," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday at Tejeda's funeral.

"He may never have been made officially a citizen of our nation, but we are proud he was a citizen of New York," the mayor told about 350 people, including Cardinal Edward Egan and Rep. Charles Rangel, at St. Elizabeth's Church in Washington Heights.

Family members in the front pew, including Tejeda's parents, ex-wife and two daughters, clutched each other for support. One relative carried small American and Dominican flags. Another held a framed photo of Tejeda. Another held a single white tulip.

Tejeda's mother, Rafaela, wept throughout the Mass and left the church saying, "My son, my dear son," in Spanish. His daughters, 6-year-old Miranda and 3-year-old Soriana, wore fancy white dresses for the Resurrection-themed funeral. Easter lilies and pink and blue hydrangeas decorated the altar.

Tejeda, 26, of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, was killed April 11 -- after the fall of Baghdad -- during combat operations in northeast Baghdad. He had been in the Corps for eight years and was based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. He had emigrated from the Dominican Republic as a child and grew up on the Dominican-dominated streets of Washington Heights.

Those streets were hushed Monday -- birdsong could be heard -- as Tejeda's coffin, under an American flag, arrived in a hearse and was carried into the church by eight Marines in dress uniforms. The flag was replaced with a white funeral cloth for the service.

A choir, accompanied sometimes by organ, sometimes by guitar, sang "Nearer, My God, to Thee" and other hymns in Spanish.

Bloomberg said Tejeda died "bringing the blessings of liberty to the people of Iraq." Referring to the attack on the World Trade Center, he said, "Every New Yorker knows how important it is to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists and terrorist states."

As the Mass ended, Egan blessed the casket and the Marines placed the Stars and Stripes over it again for the trip to a Long Island cemetery.

His family said Tejeda had hoped to become a U.S. citizen and Rangel's office said that if the family agrees, the congressman would help get posthumous citizenship.

The Defense Departments says there are 37,000 legal permanent residents in the U.S. armed forces, 10 of whom have died in Iraq.