LAWRENCE — Hundreds gathered here Tuesday to honor Marine Sergeant Johanny Rosario Pichardo, a 25-year-old Lawrence High School graduate killed last week in a bombing outside the airport in Kabul as US forces were withdrawing from Afghanistan.
“Our city will never forget her name,” Mayor Kendrys Vasquez of Lawrence told the crowd at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Vasquez asked for 13 seconds of silence, one for each US service member who died in the Aug. 26 bombing.
As the vigil began, the audience rose to its feet as nine soldiers marched across the field to present the colors. They remained standing, hands over their hearts, as the national anthem rang through the stadium and the Rev. Israel Rodriguez delivered the opening prayer in Spanish and English.
“Their sacrifice is too humbling for words,” Rodriguez said. “We will never forget the service that they gave.”
The city’s director of veterans services, Jaime Melendez, asked the audience to say Rosario Pichardo’s full name aloud in her memory. As night fell, hundreds of voices carried her name through the stadium.
“We can find comfort knowing her sacrifice was not in vain,” Vasquez said. “Those most vulnerable will fly like eagles, from Lawrence to Kabul.”
Rosario Pichardo was assigned to the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, based in Bahrain. She was deployed to Afghanistan shortly after the US-backed government collapsed on Aug. 15. It was her second deployment to the war-torn country — her first came when she was 18 years old.
In the center of the football field, a stage was adorned with patriotic floral wreaths and a printed photograph of Rosario Pichardo. Her family, who has asked for privacy and did not speak to the media, sat next to the stage during the ceremony.
As Governor Charlie Baker began to speak, volunteers passed out lit candles. Hundreds of small flames flickered through the bleachers, illuminating solemn faces.
“There’s an old saying about those who burn brightest, burn out first,” Baker said. “When we see the sunrise and the sunset, and the full moon shine on this city and Commonwealth, I hope you all take a moment to remember one of our brightest stars: Johanny Rosario Pichardo.”
During her military career, she earned two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals, two Marine Corps Good Conduct medals, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and two letters of appreciation.
Rosanna Zingales-Lopez, 55, said she hoped the vigil would provide some comfort to Rosario Pichardo’s family in their time of grief.
“I just can’t imagine their heartbreak,” she said. “We’re coming together as a community to support them and to know that they’re not alone in this. She died protecting us, so we need to be here for them.”
A GoFundMe fund-raiser created to support Rosario Pichardo’s family had raised nearly $70,000 as of 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Hundreds of residents from Lawrence and neighboring towns began filtering into the stadium around 7 p.m. Outside the venue, the Red Cross handed out water bottles and small American flags. Volunteers passed out black ribbons and pinned them onto T-shirts and jackets.
Local veterans also came to pay their respects, some carrying American flags of their own.
“It’s a tragic, tragic situation that I believe never should have happened,” said Dan Munroe, 53, a Marine veteran from Haverhill who served during Desert Storm and was later redeployed to Iraq.
Munroe reflected on the past 20 years of American involvement in Afghanistan, which ended this week as US officials announced the military had completed its withdrawal.
“There’s a lot of sweat and blood, a lot of good men and women who have died,” Munroe said. “The way that this administration has handled it [is] terrible. You don’t leave the civilians for last . . . you get the civilians out, then you withdraw the military. It’s completely all wrong.”
Emily Sweeney of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com. Katie Redefer can be reached at katie.redefer@globe.com.