Few parents have had to face the nightmare of burying the same child twice.

But that's what Regina and Fabian Gagalac endured yesterday, when their son, Sgt. Alexander Udarbe Gagalac, was reburied at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.

Alexander Gagalac was killed on Sept. 9 in Iraq. The 28-year-old's casket was exhumed and reburied yesterday after the family was notified that additional remains had been found.

For the Gagalacs, including Alexander's twin brother, Alexis, it was a painful and emotional return to Sept. 27, when about 200 family members and friends paid their respects to the Schofield Barracks soldier.

But the hurt and frustration of a return to Punchbowl a little more than three months after Alexander first was buried were evident on many faces.

As before, family and friends clad in black lined up to pass by the open grave, say a few words and drop red roses on the 1997 Leilehua High School graduate's casket. About 35 were present yesterday.

"It really hurts my feelings because we are trying to have some closure," said Regina Gagalac, Alexander's mother. "I'm not speaking against the government, but there should be a more precise way or better way of handling this."

Regina Gagalac, standing with her husband, Fabian, and son Alexis at the graveside, cried anew as she said, "I always love you, son. I love you, Alexander."

Four soldiers who served with Alexander Gagalac in the Hawija area of northern Iraq attended the brief service and burial and clustered quietly together in the area of graves where Gagalac is interred.

Staff Sgt. Paul Lande said it was "real hard" to be at the reburial of the soldier he recalled as being quiet and soft-spoken.

"Alexander Gagalac was a great leader, awesome teacher and an unbelievable friend," said Spc. Mark Rizzo.

All were part of the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry "Wolf-hounds."

The Army told the Gagalacs, who live in Salt Lake, that an improvised explosive device that was like a rocket-propelled grenade, but stronger, hit their son's Humvee. They know the extent of his injuries, and that he was killed instantly.

Alexander Gagalac was the last of 41 Schofield soldiers to be killed on a 15-month deployment to northern Iraq. He had talked with his mother the day before, on Sept. 8, and was due home on Sept. 23.

"I thought I'd be the happiest mother," Regina Gagalac said. "Thanksgiving was coming."

Punchbowl officials said 10 service members from the Iraq war are buried at Punchbowl, as well as one whose place of death is listed as the "Persian Gulf."

Service members buried as "Unknowns" from Korea or the attack on Pearl Harbor occasionally are identified and reburied elsewhere, but James Messner, a Punchbowl spokesman, said of Alexander Gagalac's case, "This is the first time we've had to do a disinterment and reinterment like this."

Fabian Gagalac said when his son was killed, soldiers secured the area for four hours while an investigation was conducted. A second group of soldiers followed up after the first. He said he was not sure why there were two sets of remains.

Fabian Gagalac does not fault the Army for the need for an exhumation and reburial.

"Those things, they cannot do it at one time because we are at war over there," he said. "What I am just thankful for is that they have the time to recover the whole thing and bring it back to us. I'm relieved in that."

Schofield Barracks yesterday referred calls to the Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operation Center in Alexandria, Va., which couldn't be reached for comment.

Alexis Gagalac, Alexander's twin, also said it was very hard to go through the burial again. The Hawai'i Army National Guard soldier accompanied his brother's remains on a flight from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as he had done before.

"I just wish it wasn't this way," he said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.