NORTH COUNTY —— It was hard enough for father John Holley to hear that his 21-year-old son had been killed in an explosion in Iraq.

But it was the way in which the remains of his son, Army Spc. Matthew Holley, would be transported back to San Diego that made the father and former soldier cringe.

Matthew's remains would be shipped in the cargo hold of a commercial jetliner from a military base in Delaware to San Diego, the Army told him. His son's body would be met not by an honor guard but by baggage handlers, who would load him onto a luggage trolley and cart him to the freight section of the airline's baggage section until the body could be picked up by the family.

"When they started explaining to me about the cargo hold and the baggage handlers, I was like, 'What? Where's the flag? Where's the honor guard?'" Holley recalled Wednesday in a phone interview. "Where's all the stuff a war hero is due for laying his life down for his country?"

The Army specialist is one of more than 2,100 U.S. troops —— 266 of whom were stationed at local bases —— to die in Iraq since the war began.

And, to the surprise of Holley and some dignitaries that were contacted about his son's return, the transport of the remains was no different than the final trips that many fallen soldiers, Marines and sailors take before they are laid to rest by their families.

The coffins of fallen troops such as Matthew Holley, an aspiring graphic artist and karate champion who trained in Rancho Penasquitos, all arrive in the United States through Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, escorted by other troops and draped in American flags, according to the Pentagon.

Holley's coffin was no different, and was greeted by a military honor guard there, his father said.

From Dover, remains are sent in the cargo holds of commercial flights, with escorts traveling as passengers aboard the planes, to airports all over the country and the hometowns of each serviceman or woman.

The military uses commercial flights to transport bodies because they carry remains to families faster than military flights would, said Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jay de la Rosa.

"You want to get remains back to the family as quickly as possible," de la Rosa said in a phone interview from the Pentagon. "One of the best ways to do that is to use commercial air."

Military flights often get sidetracked or delayed, and there are not as many flights available for the speedy return of remains, he said.

Fallen service members' remains are accompanied from Iraq all the way to their final resting places by other service members, many of whom have volunteered for the somber duty, said Greg Gordon, head of policy and public affairs for the office that deals with Marine casualties at the Pentagon.

Families of casualties also are each assigned a casualty assistance officer from the appropriate service branch, Gordon said. That officer helps families through the process of getting their loved ones' remains home and helps with funeral and other arrangements, he said.

It was the Holleys' casualty officer who got the first call from John Holley after he heard that his son would be greeted by baggage handlers rather than a military honor guard.

"I said, 'I don't care who greets my son as long as they are military,'" said John Holley. "So the officer made a bunch of phone calls."

Those calls led to intervention by California Sen. Barbara Boxer's office, which helped get an honor guard from Holley's unit, the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Ky., to Lindbergh Field to greet Matthew Holley's body as the plane landed on the tarmac. After some haggling with security regulators, the honor guard was allowed to greet the body.

"It all went as I expected it should have from the beginning," said John Holley.

"But I feel for families who have not been so lucky, who maybe haven't had other family members in the military and don't know their heroes should be greeted with dignity," added the father, who said he and his wife are former soldiers, and that his family in all has more than 150 years in the military. "Families whose son or daughter is the first, they wouldn't have a clue. They're in the middle of grieving."

Gordon, the Marine Pentagon casualty spokesman, said each service branch has its own casualty procedures, and that casualty officers help arrange honor guards and other arrival arrangements whenever possible.

"A lot of attention is paid to the remains," he said. "It may not sound very good, a cargo hold, but its the fastest way of getting remains home, and we are very respectful of our fallen Marines."

John Holley said he plans to work to see that the remains of all service members killed in battle are flown home on military flights and greeted the way his son ultimately was greeted —— with military honors.

He said he has heard the standard line about how commercial flights are faster and thinks it's bunk.

"If you delivered them in a garbage truck because that was the fastest thing, would that be proper?" he said. "Every one of our fallen heroes should be treated with the respect and honor that a president would get.

"My wife and I could have said nothing. We got what we wanted for Matthew and our family, but just being quiet wouldn't be right when other people are going through the same thing." he added. "Not enough is being done for these guys. A war hero returns to San Diego and it's a blip on the news before people forget. These people need to be honored."

The Holleys plan to honor their son with a scholarship fund for graphic arts students and for children learning karate.

Donations may be sent to the Matthew John Holley Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o North Island Credit Union, P.O. Box 85833, San Diego, California, 92186. Donations may also be made by calling (800) 752-4419.

Contact staff writer Erin Schultz at (760) 739-6644 or eschultz@nctimes.com.