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Tears for daddy at Sgt. Mario Nelson funeral service in Brooklyn (NY)

BY JEGO ARMSTRONG and ADAM NICHOLS

DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Sunday, October 15th, 2006

Little Mia Nelson said goodbye to her hero dad in silence yesterday, the tearful tot choked by emotion as she grasped a microphone.

Holding her mom's hand, speaking about her soldier dad Mario Nelson at his Brooklyn funeral service proved too much for the 3-year-old. Instead, she let mom do the talking.

"I met him when I was 17," his wife of seven years, Mecca, told more than 200 mourners at East New York's Christian Cultural Center.

"I just could never see my life not being with him. He was my first boyfriend, my only boyfriend. There are so many things he taught me, especially how to be strong.

"He told me, 'God forbid if something happened to me, Mecca, you be strong, for you and for Mia.'"

Army Sgt. Nelson, 26, of Brooklyn, was killed in Iraq two weeks ago today when a rocket propelled grenade exploded near his vehicle in the city of Hit, about 85 miles from Baghdad.

He had joined the Army in 2003, inspired to fight for freedom after digging for victims' remains at Ground Zero as a member of the National Guard in 9/11's aftermath.

"He did something that I couldn't do," his brother, Gary Nelson, 23, said. "He laid his life down for me and for others.

"If there was any way for us to stop him [from going to Iraq], we would have. But his commitment was too strong."

He said Sgt. Nelson, who came to the U.S. from Haiti when he was 8 years old, loved his adopted country enough to sacrifice his life for it.

At yesterday's farewell, military brass presented Nelson's parents, Marie and Filius Nelson, with his Purple Heart and Bronze Star commendations for outstanding service.

"When we look at the parents of a son or daughter who have just enlisted, we tell them everything's going to be okay because people like Mario are out there protecting them," Brigade Gen. Todd Semonite said.

Draped in the Stars and Stripes, Nelson's coffin was then taken from East New York to the Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale with a motorcycle escort from the Patriot Guard Riders.