Relatives and friends of a fallen soldier from Las Cruces prepared to bury their loved one on Friday.

Sgt. Matthew Apuan of the 1st Calvary Division based in Fort Hood, Texas, was killed Feb. 18 near Baghdad.

The 27-year-old Army soldier was serving his second tour overseas when he died.

Thursday, Gov. Bill Richardson signed an executive order that called for flags to be flown at half staff in New Mexico.

Mayor Pro-Tem Dolores Archuleta also asked residents to honor the fallen soldier by lining the street to his final resting place on Friday. She and local veterans are asking supporters to line West Picacho Avenue at 10 a.m. Friday. It's a gesture his former fiancee Nikki Cardenas said Apuan would have liked to see.

"He would love that. He really didn't respect the people that would criticize the soldiers for the war, and so just the fact that people are recognizing that it's not the soldiers-- it's politics," she said.

The city of Las Cruces lined the streets Friday to honor Sgt. Apuan. An estimated one thousand friends, family, and strangers lined a three-mile stretch of West Picacho Avenue to salute Apuan as his casket was brought from Holy Cross Catholic Church to Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery.

National Guard members saluted Apuan with a two-helicopter flyover during the service.