BOSTON -- The Marine whose father set himself on fire after hearing that his son was killed in Iraq will be laid to rest in Massachusetts, according to family members.

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Janet Wu Reports On Family

NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu reported that the grief over the death of Lance Cpl. Alex Arredondo extends from Florida where his father lived to Norwood, Mass., where he was raised and where he will be buried.

Those who knew him say Arredondo, 20, knew he wanted to be a Marine well before he graduated from Blue Hills Regional Vocational Tech in Canton two years ago.

"He was just, just bent on going (to Iraq)," said Paul Carey, Arredondo's high school adviser.

Arredondo's father was proud of him, but when three uniformed Marine officers arrived at his Hollywood, Fla., home Wednesday to deliver the news that his son had been killed in Najaf, Carlos Arredondo snapped, according to his wife, Melida, who was at work at the time.

"Well, at the time that the Marines showed up, I was working. And I knew my husband called me immediately and was crying and screaming in the phone that Alexander had been killed, that his son had been killed. And I went to pieces and my husband, as you know, went to pieces and basically tried to accompany his son," Melida Arredondo said.

According to witnesses, Carlos Arredondo, 44, climbed into the Marine Corps van parked outside his home after smashing in the windows and setting it on fire using a propane tank, a can of gasoline and a blowtorch from his garage. The three Marines, reservists who are members of a military Casualty Assistance Calls Officer team, pulled Carlos Arredondo from the burning vehicle and extinguished the flames, but more than 50 percent of his body had been burned.

Carlos Arredondo's wife said he was in stable condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital Thursday night.

"They were a little concerned about his breathing because he was inside of the car and he burned his passageway to the lungs, somewhat," Melida Arredondo said.

Carey called it a double tragedy that no one would have ever predicted. He said when Alex Arredondo graduated in May 2002, he had been awarded the school's military award. Carey said no one was surprised when the Marine returned to Iraq for a second tour of duty two months ago.

"We talked very often. He was just a wonderful young man, always a smile on his face, always a nice word for someone. I did have the luxury to see his scrapbook -- the letters he had written home to his dad, how much he enjoyed the military, how he felt he was really doing some good in the world," said Carey.

Alex Arredondo's body is expected back in the United States in two weeks.

"He will be in Jamaica Plain, Mass., for a wake and will be buried in Norwood, Mass.," Melida Arredondo said.