The remains of a US special operations soldier from New Jersey killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan were returned to the United States Wednesday in a Christmas- morning ceremony.
Sgt. 1st Class Michael Goble was killed on Monday in northern Kunduz province in an attack for which the Taliban claimed responsibility.
Goble, 33, of Washington Township, was on his final tour of duty and was set to return home in less than a month.
“You’re home now,” his partner, Jennifer Albuquerque, wrote on her Facebook page on Wednesday.
Goble leaves behind a young daughter, Zoey.
The Bronze Star recipient was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
His body was met at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware by national security adviser Robert O’Brien, Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other US military officials.
A GoFundMe page set up for Albuquerque and daughter Zoey raised nearly $90,000 by Wednesday afternoon.
Goble was a career soldier with a distinguished career, serving multiple overseas deployments including in Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, South Korea and twice in Afghanistan.
Friend Lisa Barker described him as “a true American hero.”
“Anyone that crossed paths with Mike, was truly blessed,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page.
“I have never met a soldier that was more passionate and patriotic than Mike Goble. He loved this country endlessly, and paid the ultimate sacrifice for it, fighting for our freedom,” she continued.
Goble was the 20th American service member killed in Afghanistan this year.
Barker said the flood of donations was “a true testament of the kind of man we all knew Mike to be.”
Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi (R-Bergen) said Washington Township had lost “another son, brother, father while fighting for the US military in Afghanistan.”
She asked people sitting down for Christmas dinner to keep Goble’s family in their thoughts.
More than 2,400 Americans have died in the 18-year-old war.
With Post wires