MUNSTER | Members of the Patriot Guard Riders stood at Kish Funeral Home on Friday, solemnly opening doors for mourners and stoically holding American flags in position.

Inside, uniformed police and military officers kept watch at the wake for Army Cpl. Joseph Hernandez. The 24-year-old Hammond native was killed Jan. 9 in Zabul province when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Jaldak, Afghanistan.

A line of people moved past television screens that flashed pictures of Hernandez's life while music, including the Rascal Flatts song "What Hurts The Most," played softly in the background. Posters featuring Hernandez's picture against a patriotic background were stacked on tables, for people to take and display as a show of support.

Photo collages showed Hernandez in his military uniform but also in his child and teen years, swinging a baseball bat or hanging out with his brothers. A separate collage shared pictures of Hernandez with his wife, Alison Hernandez.

Joseph and Alison Hernandez met nearly seven years ago. Marriage and two children, Jacob and Noah, followed.

They had plans for a bigger family. Joseph Hernandez wanted enough children to build their own soccer team, recalled his mother, Elva Hernandez.

Joseph Hernandez was her baby, the youngest of three sons.

"He had a special spirit, a kind demeanor," Elva Hernandez said. "If he and Alison went to the movies (when they were still dating), he'd invite me."

Knowing his mother's appreciation of religious articles, he sent her a wooden crucifix carved in Germany and a tapestry of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

When he was younger, he wanted so badly to play piano. The family finally bought one, and he started playing it as it was being carried into the house. His mother asked him how he knew to play, and he said he had been practicing on paper.

He was an avid White Sox fan, and Alison Hernandez roots for the Cubs. They never went to a game together at Wrigley Field, although they did watch the Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. So, Joseph Hernandez said he would give in and take her and their sons to Wrigley for a pre-season game when he returned this spring.

Although they'll never go to a baseball game together, Alison Hernandez still gets to hear her husband's voice, now and then, thanks to one of his friends.

"He has videos on his phone, and he plays them for me, so I can hear my husband's voice," she said.

She was grateful to have the chance to tell her husband before he died that their 9-month-old son started crawling on his hands and knees, and that her husband got to see their sons open their Christmas present, via Web cam.

Her husband was an animal lover and wanted to be a veterinarian. At one point, the couple shared a two-bedroom apartment with four cats and three dogs. When he was working for UPS, he saw that a dog had fallen through a frozen lake, so he jumped in and saved it, Alison Hernandez said.