Angel De Jesus Lucio Ramirez, Army, Sergeant -- Rest In Peace

Angel De Jesus Lucio Ramirez, 22

Army, Sergeant
Based: Giessen, Germany
1st Battalion, 16th Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: November 11, 2006
Ramadi, Iraq
Married
Gender: Male
Hometown: Pacoima
High School: San Fernando High (San Fernando)
Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico
Burial: Los Angeles National Cemetery, Westwood

Army Sgt. Angel de Jesus Lucio Ramirez knew how much his mother worried about him during his first combat tour in Iraq. So during his second tour he would call home two or more times a week to reassure her that all was well.

On Nov. 9, Marina Lucio answered the phone in her Bakersfield home to hear her son offer a quick hello. The 22-year-old soldier said he was going on a two-day mission and would call again when he returned.

Three days later, two soldiers in crisp Army greens knocked on her door with the news that Lucio had been killed by a roadside bomb on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

"At least I got to talk to him one last time," she said. "He said he loved us and his brothers and sisters very much. That was the last thing he told me."

Lucio was among three soldiers killed in the explosion while on a security escort mission in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. They were all assigned to the 16th Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division in Giessen, Germany.

A graduate of San Fernando High School in Pacoima, Lucio moved with his family from Saltillo, Mexico, when he was 11. He adapted quickly to his new homeland and took an interest in the U.S. military.

Read the entire LA Times article about Army Sergeant Angel De Jesus Lucio Ramirez here.

Also killed on that day with Army Sergeant Angel De Jesus Lucio Ramirez were 

Staff Sergeant William S. Jackson II, 29, of Saginaw, Michigan

and Staff Sergeant Misael Martinez, 24, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Diego A. Solorzano Valdovinos, Army, Sergeant -- Rest In Peace

Diego A. Solorzano Valdovinos, 24

Army, Sergeant
Based: Ft. Campbell, Ky.
1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division
Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom
Died: October 29, 2010
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Huntington Park
High School: Huntington Park Senior High (Huntington Park)

Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico

Burial: Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside

On his 24th birthday, Army Sgt. Diego A. Solorzano Valdovinos was on patrol near his Afghanistan combat outpost.

Tall and affable, "Sgt. Solo," as he was known, had immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico as a boy. He'd recently visited the family home in Huntington Park and spoken about his plans. He wanted to save money and buy a house. And he was going to reenlist.

His mother was anxious, as she was in 2006 when he announced he was joining the Army. "I think he wanted some excitement in his life," Patricia Valdovinos said of her son's determination to become a soldier. "I couldn't do anything. He was old enough."

He grew into a leader, with a keen sense of responsibility for the members of the infantry team of riflemen and grenadiers he led. In his last conversation with his mother, when she urged him to be careful, he replied, "I'm a sheep dog." He said he had to look after his flock of soldiers. "His brothers, he called them," his mother recalled.

Solorzano Valdovinos was newly into his third war zone tour of duty when he set out on patrol Oct. 27 in the Yahya Khel district southeast of Kabul. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division, based at Ft. Campbell, Ky.

As his platoon moved down through a ravine, small arms fire began raining down from both sides. Solorzano Valdovinos was hit multiple times, including in the major artery of his thigh. He kept firing and directing his team even though they were pinned down, said Maj. Bradd Schultz, citing a summary of the encounter prepared by Solorzano Valdovinos' commanding officer.

"His only thought," the officer wrote, "was about protecting his fellow soldiers from enemy fire."

The young man's blood loss was severe and he was evacuated and underwent surgery in Afghanistan. He was then airlifted to a military hospital in Germany. He died there two days after the firefight, as his mother was en route to be with him.

"I had no idea he had achieved so much," she said recently. Among several decorations her son received was the Army Commendation Medal, awarded for heroism or significant meritorious service.

Solorzano Valdovinos was buried at Riverside National Cemetery.

In addition to his mother and brother Jesus, his survivors include his brothers Omar Solorzano, 20, a member of the Marine Corps, and Joshua Muralles, 12; a sister, Samantha Muralles, 14; and his stepfather, Cesar Muralles.

Read the entire LA Times article about 

Army Sergeant Diego A. Solorzano Valdovinos here. 

Find more about Sergeant Solorzano Valdovinos at Special Forces Honor Roll 

and at Military Times.

Sergio H. Escobar -- Lance Corporal, Marines -- Rest In Peace

Sergio H. Escobar, 18

Marines, Lance Corporal
Based: Twentynine Palms, Calif.
3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: October 9, 2005
Ramadi, Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Pasadena
High School: Rose City (Pasadena)
Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico
Burial: Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Hollywood Hills

On weekends, Escobar would make it a point to have breakfast or lunch with his family.
"That was his thing," Ortiz said. "He would say, 'I'll spend some time with you guys, and then I'll go out with my friends.' "
When he became a Marine, Escobar acquired a new group of friends whom he liked to bring home with him. "One time my truck was full of soldiers," Ortiz said with a chuckle. Escobar warned Ortiz to leave his mother at home so there would be room in the truck for half a dozen of his Marine buddies.
Escobar wanted to make the Marine Corps his career: "Honestly, he would always say he would never come out of the military," Ortiz said.
Since Escobar went to Iraq and couldn't socialize with his family on weekends, he would call home instead.
Ortiz last spoke to him Oct. 7, a few days before the bomb went off in Ramadi. "He told me, 'I'm OK. You don't have to worry about me. I'm coming home soon,' " Ortiz said. "Which he did."

Sergio H. Escobar video tribute:


Read more about Lance Corporal Sergio H. Escobar in the LA Times.
Lance Corporal Sergio H. Escobar also remembered by Boom3 on Saturday, October 9, 2010, and here on July 16, 2010.

Atanacio Haro Marin Jr., Army, Sergeant -- Rest In Peace

Atanacio Haro Marin Jr., 27

Army, Sergeant

Based: Ft. Hood, Texas

Battery C, 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: June 3, 2003
Balad, Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Baldwin Park
High School: Sierra Vista High (Baldwin Park)

Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico

From the Pasadena Star-News:

Atanasio Haro Marin Jr. was proud of his country, proud to be a soldier and proud to be serving in Iraq.Known as "Nacho' to family members, he looked forward to a long career in the Army, a choice that his parents Catalina and Atanasio did not like. 

The 27-year-old went to Iraq with Fort Hood's 4th Infantry Division.

"It takes a lot of courage to serve,' said Ismael Haro Marin, Atanasio's older brother.

The Sierra Vista High School graduate was a ground artillery specialist, skilled at handling rocket launchers and other weapons, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Dan Baggio, the chief of public affairs at Fort Hood.

Part of Operation Iron Horse, the government's movement to stabilize Iraq, Haro Marin and a band of soldiers came under attack Tuesday morning at a checkpoint south of Balad, Iraq, Baggio said. The town is 55 miles north of Baghdad.

Suspected Baath party supporters used Soviet made rocket- propelled grenades and guns to ambush the soldiers guarding the post, he said.

Haro Marin was shot and killed. Several others were injured. Despite the buildup of American forces in the area since the war, sympathizers of Saddam Hussein's regime - and others unhappy with the presence of foreign forces - continue to attack American troops.

"He was on duty working at the guard post when he came under attack,'

Baggio said. "Even with the war over, this is one of the most dangerous phases because the soldiers are an easier target. That is the tough part. He died serving his country.'

On Thursday, members of the soldier's family tried to come to grips with the death of the second-youngest member of this large Mexican-American family. "I want to run from here and go to wherever he is at,' his mother, Catalina, 61, told KMEX-TV. "I want to see him, even if he is dead. I want to kiss him.'

January was the last time the family was together, when Haro Marin was home on leave. Family members said he was fun- loving and full of energy.


This showed when he hit the dance floor. He loved a wide range of music, from classical to folklorico.

'Nacho was all over the place,' said sister-in-law Aracely Haro Marin. "He was never unhappy. He would say, 'Don't worry about it, there will be better times.' '

Trips home were spent visiting friends and family. Family ties grew tighter after his March deployment to the Middle East.

He managed to make two telephone calls in April upon arrival. He told his family he had no idea where he would be assigned. Haro Marin dashed off a Mother's Day card that read, "Don't worry, be happy.'

Haro Marin was born on June 14, 1975, in the small village of Momax, in Zacatecas, Mexico. While his father, Atanasio, worked in Los Angeles picking fruit and doing small construction jobs to support his wife and seven children, his mother took care of her family.


But Catalina Haro Marin wanted her family together. So in 1977, when Atanasio was 2, they moved to Los Angeles.

He attended schools in Lincoln Heights before the family moved to Baldwin Park in the early '90s. He attended Sierra Vista High School his senior year and graduated in 1993. While in school, he ran on the track team and completed the Los Angeles Marathon.

Haro Marin joined the National Guard immediately upon graduation, over the objections of his parents. When his service tour ended, he transferred to the Army and shipped out to Fort Sill, Okla. While in training, Ismael said, his brother helped save some soldiers trapped inside a helicopter that crashed near the base.

In January 2001, Haro Marin shipped out to Fort Hood, Texas.

Haro Marin is survived by his parents, brothers Victor, 38, Ismael, 36, and Carlos, 23, and sisters, Celia, 40, Catalina, 34, and Liliana, 30. Memorial services are pending.

"We are all going to miss him, we are missing him already,' Ismael said. "We wish it was a dream. We are trying to wake up to reality. There is so much pain.'

This story was published June 5, 2003

Read more about Army Sergeant Atanacio Haro Marin Jr.

in the SGV Tribune

and visit Sergeant Atanacio Haro Marin's Guest Book.

This picture is from Centex Fallen Heroes

Victor H. Toledo-Pulido, Army, Corporal -- Rest In Peace

Victor H. Toledo-Pulido, 22

Army, Corporal
Based: Ft. Benning, Ga.
3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized)
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: May 23, 2007
Nahrawan, Iraq
Married, 1 child
Gender: Male
Hometown: Hanford
Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico
Burial: Grangeville Cemetery, Armona, Calif.

Toledo-Pulido's mother, Maria Gaspar, said that she tried to dissuade her son from joining the Army but that he was determined to volunteer. "I told him I did not approve. We all told him," she said. "He was my youngest; he was my baby. And since he was born, I overprotected him. [But] he was grown up, and he wanted to mature and make his own decisions."

Growing up in the Central Valley, he was keenly aware that he was not an American citizen, but "he loved this country," his mother said. "He said, 'This is my country.' "

Toledo-Pulido was about 7 years old when a smuggler helped him and his older brother and mother cross over the mountains along the California border into the United States. He became a legal resident in 1999. Like many undocumented immigrants, he worked hard jobs at a young age. He toiled in the fields of the Central Valley with an uncle, picking grapes and other crops. Later, he took jobs as a restaurant cook.

Family members said they didn't know why, but Toledo-Pulido always showed an interest in joining the military.

Gaspar said she last saw her son in March as he and hundreds of soldiers left Ft. Benning for Iraq. He told her that no matter where he went, she would always be with him. He went over the good times and the bad times of their lives, as if paging through a family album.

"He talked like he knew something was going to happen," his mother said.
…
In the early morning hours of May 23, Toledo-Pulido and others in his platoon were awakened and given a mission to retrieve a military vehicle that had just been hit by an explosive. After concluding the mission, the team started driving back to their base. Minutes into the trip, their vehicle was hit by a tremendous explosion. 

Army Capt. Troy Thomas, who was in the vehicle, was sent flying through the air. Miraculously, he was unscathed. But when he looked back to check on the others in the vehicle, he saw Toledo-Pulido's lifeless body slumped over the steering wheel. 

Another soldier, Cpl. Jonathan D. Winterbottom, 21, of Falls Church, Virginia, was also mortally wounded in the blast.

"It is hard to explain the rush of emotion in a time like that," Thomas wrote in an e-mail to The Times. "People should not have to experience that feeling. It is because of brave human beings like Victor that war is only witnessed by a few so that the majority can live free and never experience what I felt that day."

Thomas said he would never forget him or the American values he stood for. He said Toledo-Pulido was a "Mexican citizen voluntarily serving in our armed forces at a time when you hear more about illegal immigration on TV than the war itself."

"What does it take to prove your worth as an American?" Thomas asked. "Well, if you ask me ... Victor Toledo-Pulido showed his worth by serving his nation and his family."
...
Gaspar said she is proud of her son, an "immigrant who gave his life for this country, and who did so with joy."


In addition to his mother and Yosio, he is survived by his wife, Christi; his son, Isak; his stepfather, Paz Gaspar Noriega; his brother Gaston Toledo-Pulido; and his sister, Maria McGee.

Read the entire LA Times article about Army Corporal Victor H. Toledo-Pulido here. 

Find more about Victor H. Toledo-Pulido at the Iraq Page 

and visit Corporal Toledo-Pulido's Guest Book.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Cpl. Jonathan D. Winterbottom, 21, 

of Falls Church, Virginia

 Rest In Peace

Read more about Corporal Winterbottom here 

and visit his Guest Book.

Juan de Dios Garcia-Arana, Army, Staff Sergeant -- Rest In Peace

Juan de Dios Garcia-Arana, 27

Army, Staff Sergeant

Based: Camp Hovey, South Korea

5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division

Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom

Died: April 30, 2005

Khaldiya (near Fallouja), Iraq

Married, 1 child

Gender: Male

Hometown: Los Angeles

High School: John C. Fremont Senior High (Los Angeles)

Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico

Burial: Buried in Guadalajara, Mexico

From the LA Times:

Army Staff Sgt. Juan De Dios Garcia-Arana had a fondness for horseplay, liked to tinker with cars and electronics, and was hoping to make the military his career.

"He was a role model type of brother," Edgardo Garcia said of his older sibling, who had a penchant for disassembling and reassembling radios and TVs as a kid and taught his two younger brothers how to install sound systems in vehicles. "He would just tell us, 'If you're going to do something, make sure you do it and finish it. Don't do it [halfway] and procrastinate.' "

Garcia-Arana, a 27-year-old married father of one from Los Angeles, was killed April 30 when the Bradley fighting vehicle he was captain of was attacked with small-arms fire in Khaladiyah, Iraq, the Department of Defense said.

Garcia-Arana was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and moved to Los Angeles in 1993. The 1998 graduate of John C. Fremont High School enlisted in the Army three months after graduation and was deployed to Iraq last August.

"You would never find that guy sad or depressed," said Edgardo Garcia, 21, who followed in his older brother's footsteps and enlisted in the Army in April 2003. He was deployed to Kuwait in December, then to Iraq, but is home now on emergency leave. "He was one of the most joyful guys around."

Edgardo Garcia, a specialist assigned to the 376th Personnel Services Battalion from Long Beach, recalled how his brother liked to playfully bait him and their younger brother, Angel, 20, into wrestling matches.

"He would brag about how strong he was," Edgardo Garcia said. "He would tell my brother and I that we were puny and try to wrestle with both of us at the same time."

Despite Garcia-Arana's fondness for wrestling, Edgardo Garcia said he didn't recall his brother ever getting into a fight.


"Wherever he went, he'd be surrounded by friends," Edgardo Garcia said. "He had a lot of charisma and an easy way of going. He was just so easy to talk to."


Garcia-Arana was particularly proud of his son, Adrian, who will celebrate his first birthday May 19, Edgardo Garcia said.


Adrian "was just born and he already wanted to play soccer with him," Edgardo Garcia said. "He was riding around in the car with him the day after he was born and showing him off to his friends."


Garcia-Arana met his wife, Guadalupe, 25, in Mexico when his parents renewed their wedding vows in Guadalajara in January 2001. The couple married on the bridge between El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, on Oct. 9, 2003.

In addition to his two brothers, wife and son, Garcia-Arana is survived by his parents, Daniel and Martha; and a 16-year-old sister, Fatima.

Find messages and remembrances of Army Staff Sergeant Juan de Dios Garcia-Arana at Fallen Heroes.

Army Lt. Col. Kristan Hericks, top left, presents a flag to the parents of Staff Sgt. Juan De Dios Garcia Arana at Friday's American Gold Star Manor Memorial Ceremony in Long Beach. Daniel and Martha Garcia's son was killed April 30, 2005 in Khaladiyah, Iraq. Gold Star Mothers, Inc. was founded in 1928 by a group of mothers who had lost sons in wars fought by the U.S. armed forces. Picture found at the Press Telegram.

Juana Navarro Arellano, Marines, Lance Corporal -- Rest In Peace

Juana Navarro Arellano, 24

Marines, Lance Corporal
Based: Okinawa, Japan
9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: April 8, 2006
Taqaddum, Iraq
Single
Gender: Female
Hometown: Ceres
High School: Peter Johansen High (Modesto)
Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico

From Iraq Page:

Lance Cpl. Juana Navarro Arellano, 24, of Ceres, Calif., died from wounds she received while supporting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.

According to a Defense Department release, Navarro was assigned to the 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, which is based in Okinawa, Japan.

In June 2005, Cpl. Ramona Valdez and Lance Cpl. Holly Charette, who were assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, were killed by a car bomb in Fallujah. Before Navarro’s death, Valdez and Charette had been the only female Marines killed in Iraq since U.S. forces entered the country in March 2003, a Pentagon spokesman said.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
CERES, Calif. - A 24-year-old woman who was inspired to join the Marines after her younger twin brothers enlisted was fatally shot in the head in Iraq over the weekend.


Lance Cpl. Juana Navarro, of Ceres, was killed Saturday while guarding other soldiers during a mission in the Iraqi province of Anbar, said Marine Capt. Donn Puca.


"This was something she always wanted to do," said her older sister, Beatriz Lopez.


She left for duty in May, her family said.


Navarro was born in Michoacan, Mexico, and she and a twin sister became U.S. citizens at age 13. She graduated from Johansen High School in Modesto in 2000, where she volunteered with special education children.

She showered her three nephews with gifts, Lopez said.

"She was like a second mom to my oldest," Lopez said. "When I told him she died, his face, it just shattered into pieces."

Find remembrances and tributes to Marine Lance Corporal Juana Navarro Arellano at Fallen Heroes.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 David Phinney takes a moment in silence to pay tribute to Lance Cpl. Juana “Chica” Navarro-Arellano, a bulk fuel specialist with 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, who died April 8 from wounds received while supporting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Phinney is the commander of Bulk Fuel Company, 9th ESB

A memorial service for Lance Cpl. Juana “Chica” Navarro-Arellano was held April 13 at Camp Hansen’s West Chapel.

From Born to War: Paintings in honor of the American women killed under military assignment to Iraq. 2003-present

Marine Lance Corporal Juana Navarro Arellano previously remembered at Boom3 here.

Felipe de Jesus Sandoval-Flores, Marines, Lance Corporal -- Rest In Peace

Felipe de Jesus Sandoval-Flores , 20

Marines, Lance Corporal
Based: Camp Pendleton
1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: April 2, 2006
Al Asad (near), Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Los Angeles
High School: Locke High (Los Angeles)
Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico
Burial: Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City

"The single and most prevalent fear of most men is death," he wrote for his high school English class just months before he graduated.

His essay, somber and filled with references to Scripture, underscored Sandoval-Flores' recognition, even as a teenager, that, as he wrote, "Tomorrow is never promised."

The essay ends with this: "Death scares me, but it is coming, ready or not...."

Looking back, his sister said she believes the serious conversations that she and her younger brother often had were meant to prepare her and the rest of the family for the worst.


A devout Catholic, Sandoval-Flores may have been prepared for death, but he also embraced life, family and friends said.


"Felipe was always a giving kind of person, a good heart," said another longtime friend, Raoul Gonzalez, 22.


Whether it was letting friends win at video games, counseling young parishioners on the Catholic rite of confirmation or helping out the homeless, Sandoval-Flores savored every day, Gonzalez said.


Once, Gonzalez remembered, the two were out distributing food, clothes and hot chocolate to the poor when Sandoval-Flores spotted a boy about 9 or 10 years old in line with the others.


"Felipe had this new sweater, not even 2 weeks old, and when he saw this young kid, he didn't hesitate, he took off his sweater and gave it to him," Gonzalez said.

At his funeral, more than 200 family members and friends watched Sandoval-Flores' body carried to his grave at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City by a white carriage drawn by two white horses.

"Words cannot explain how much we miss him," his parents wrote in a letter to The Times. "We are proud as [his] parents because, despite being poor, we were able to raise a good young man with a big heart who loved and respected his fellow human beings."

In a separate letter, his younger sister, Michelle, wrote: "April 2, 2006, I recognized true sorrow; my brother was not coming home."

But through the pain, she wrote, "I am glad Felipe is no longer living in that hell called war."

Do read the entire LA Times article about Marine Lance Corporal Felipe de Jesus Sandoval-Flores.
Find messages and remembrances at
Fallen Heroes and in Lance Corporal Sandoval-Flores' Guest Book.



Vicky Huynh grieves as she looks at a memorial for her fiance Lance Cpl. Felipe D. Sandoval-Flores (sp right) and other fallen serviceman and women from the 1st. Marine Logistics Group Forward during a memorial Service held Friday on Camp Pendleton. Vicky's fiancee, gave his life in Operation Iraqi Freedom.



Killed with Lance Cpl. Felipe D. Sandoval-Flores were:

Cpl. David Bass of Davidson, Tenn.

Lance Cpl. Patrick Gallagher of Duval, Fla.

Cpl. Brian St. Germain of Kent, Rhode Island

Staff Sgt. Abraham Twitchell of Yelm, Wash.

Cpl. Andres Aguilar Jr. of Victoria, Texas

Francisco Abraham Martinez Flores, Marines, Private First Class -- Rest In Peace

Francisco Abraham Martinez Flores, 21

Marines, Private 1st Class
Based: Twentynine Palms, Calif.
1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: March 25, 2003
Nasiriya, Iraq
Engaged
Gender: Male
Hometown: Duarte
Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico
Burial: Live Oak Memorial Park, Monrovia

With her son's casket before her and a huge American flag hanging high above the altar, Martha Martinez stood strong Saturday in front of a packed church crowd and told mourners what overwhelmed her heart:

"I am a mother with a broken heart," she said. "I had so much love for my son and I feel so sad that I have lost him.... But I will always be proud of him."
...
She said she could not give him a final embrace because she was in Mexico attending her father's funeral the day he left Twentynine Palms.


"He was my firstborn son and the pride of this family," she said as many in the pews began to weep. "I will always remember him as a young man with so much spirit."

Martinez Flores came with his family from the Mexican state of Jalisco at age 3 and was two weeks away from becoming a U.S. citizen when he died, one of thousands of green card soldiers who volunteer for military service. His relatives proudly said Saturday that he had been posthumously awarded citizenship.

Read the entire LA Times article about Marine Private First Class Francisco Abraham Martinez Flores here, find more at Military Times, Fallen Heroes and visit Private Flores' Guest Book.

The family of Marine PFC Francisco Martinez Flores embrace as they greave for the 21-year-old during his funeral Mass Saturday, April, 12, 2003 in Monrovia, Calif. His mother, Martha Martinez Flores embraces her husband Samuel, left and her youngest son, Sammy. The Marine was killed when his tank tumbled from a collapsing bridge in Iraq was remembered Saturday as a man who loved two countries the United States and Mexico and died to liberate a third. Hundreds of mourners packed Immaculate Conception Church and others overflowed outside during the funeral Mass for Martinez Flores, 21, who died just two weeks before he was to become a U.S. citizen.(AP Photo/Virgina Lee Hunter)

You will find the above photograph of Marine Private Flores' family here.

Jose Angel Garibay, Marines, Corporal -- Rest In Peace

Jose Angel Garibay, 21

Marines, Corporal
Based: Camp Lejeune, N.C.
1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, II Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: March 23, 2003
Nasiriya, Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Costa Mesa
High School: Newport Harbor High (Newport Beach)
Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico
Burial: Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside

I went to High School with Jose. We joined the Marines together and were in the same platoon in boot camp.

I remember 2 months into boot camp, he walked over to me one evening during the 20 minutes of liberty time we were given and he said, "How are you doing Harry?" I hadn't heard my first name said to me in over two months and it stunned me. He brought me back down to Earth and reminded me of the world that existed outside of that rather unpleasant, at the time, situation we were both in.

He was an incredible friend and a truly dedicated Marine.

— Harry Agdayan
November 12, 2010 at 7:58 p.m.

Three men in uniform knocked on Simona Garibay's door in Costa Mesa early Monday, walking past U.S. and Mexican flags proudly planted in her front lawn.


At first she was mystified that these strangers were asking for her by name.


"I didn't know who they were," she said, too upset to say much more. "Then they told me the horrible news."


Her 21-year-old son, Marine Cpl. Jose Angel Garibay, had been killed in combat in Iraq, the Marines told family members. Late Monday, the Department of Defense confirmed that Garibay was one of seven Marines killed in action Sunday near Nasiriyah, Iraq, in some of the heaviest fighting of the war to date. 

Also killed were Cpl. Jorge A. Gonzalez, 20, of Los Angeles
Sgt. Michael E. Bitz, 31, of Ventura
Lance Cpl. David K. Fribley, 26, of Lee, Fla.
Staff Sgt. Phillip A. Jordan, 42, of Brazoria, Texas
2nd Lt. Frederick E. Pokorney Jr., 31, of Nye, Nev.
Lance Cpl. Thomas J. Slocum, 22, of Adams, Colo.

Garibay, a stocky former football player from Newport Harbor High School, joined the Marines three years ago, right after graduation, handling missiles and mortars for a weapons platoon. He was shipped out to the Middle East three months ago.

The Marine, whose family moved to the United States from Jalisco, Mexico, when he was a baby, is the first Orange County serviceman to be killed in combat.

He wrote to this mother often and sent money home almost every month, family members said. In his last letter, which arrived from Kuwait on March 11, he asked for a package of his favorite Mexican candies and a CD of popular ranchera singer Vicente Fernandez.

Do read the entire LA Times article about Marine Corporal Jose Angel Garibay here,
find more at Wall Dads,
Fallen Heroes and the Orange County Register.

Also remembered here today is Marine Corporal Randal Kent Rosacker.

We are freedom's answer to fear. We do not bargain with terror. We stalk it, corner it, take aim and kill it.

— Jose Angel Garibay, in final letter to his girlfriend

Juana Navarro Arellano, Marines, Lance Corporal -- Rest In Peace

Juana Navarro Arellano, 24

Marines, Lance Corporal
Based: Okinawa, Japan
9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: April 8, 2006
Taqaddum, Iraq
Single
Gender: Female
Hometown: Ceres
High School: Peter Johansen High (Modesto)
Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico

From Iraq Page:

Lance Cpl. Juana Navarro Arellano, 24, of Ceres, Calif., died from wounds she received while supporting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.

According to a Defense Department release, Navarro was assigned to the 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, which is based in Okinawa, Japan.

In June 2005, Cpl. Ramona Valdez and Lance Cpl. Holly Charette, who were assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, were killed by a car bomb in Fallujah. Before Navarro’s death, Valdez and Charette had been the only female Marines killed in Iraq since U.S. forces entered the country in March 2003, a Pentagon spokesman said.
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CERES, Calif. - A 24-year-old woman who was inspired to join the Marines after her younger twin brothers enlisted was fatally shot in the head in Iraq over the weekend.


Lance Cpl. Juana Navarro, of Ceres, was killed Saturday while guarding other soldiers during a mission in the Iraqi province of Anbar, said Marine Capt. Donn Puca.


"This was something she always wanted to do," said her older sister, Beatriz Lopez.


She left for duty in May, her family said.


Navarro was born in Michoacan, Mexico, and she and a twin sister became U.S. citizens at age 13. She graduated from Johansen High School in Modesto in 2000, where she volunteered with special education children.

She showered her three nephews with gifts, Lopez said.

"She was like a second mom to my oldest," Lopez said. "When I told him she died, his face, it just shattered into pieces."

Find remembrances and tributes to Marine Lance Corporal Juana Navarro Arellano at Fallen Heroes.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 David Phinney takes a moment in silence to pay tribute to Lance Cpl. Juana “Chica” Navarro-Arellano, a bulk fuel specialist with 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, who died April 8 from wounds received while supporting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Phinney is the commander of Bulk Fuel Company, 9th ESB

A memorial service for Lance Cpl. Juana “Chica” Navarro-Arellano was held April 13 at Camp Hansen’s West Chapel.

From Born to War: Paintings in honor of the American women killed under military assignment to Iraq. 2003-present

Roberto L. Martinez Salazar, Army, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Roberto L. Martinez Salazar, 21

Army, Specialist
Based: Ft. Lewis, Wash.
14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: February 4, 2006
Mosul, Iraq
Engaged
Gender: Male
Hometown: Long Beach
Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico

Long Beach combat engineer killed in Iraq blast

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Army Spc. Roberto L. Martinez Salazar died Saturday when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle in Mosul as he patrolled for planted explosives, according to the military.

Martinez Salazar, 21, of Long Beach, planned to get married when he returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq and make a career out of the military, his relatives said.

“He was just a kid, a kid, a lovely kid,” his aunt, Isabel Enciso, said during the combat engineer’s funeral on Monday. “I don’t know why God decided to take him but now he has an angel to sing and praise him. I know he did this for us, for all the people not just for the family, but just for all the people in this country and in Iraq.”


Martinez Salazar was born in Mexico and moved to Long Beach as a child. He enlisted in the Army in March 2003 and recently re-enlisted.

Read the entire Associated Press article about Army Speialist Roberto L. Martinez Salazar at Military Times, and find more about Specialist Salazar at LA IndyMedia and at Fallen Heroes.

Marine Pfc Jose F. Gonzalez Rodriguez & Marine Pfc Jakub Henryk Kowalik -- Both Immigrants -- RIP

Jose F. Gonzalez Rodriguez, 19

Marine Pfc. Jose Francis Gonzalez Rodriguez

Marines, Private 1st Class
Based: Camp Pendleton
1st Supply Battalion, 1st Force Service Support Group
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: May 12, 2003
Camp Chesty, Iraq
Gender: Male
Hometown: Norwalk
High School: John H. Glenn High (Norwalk)
Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico

An immigrant from Mexico, Rodriguez was an honor student and played on his high school baseball team, according to his Associated Press obituary. He was recruited by the Marines just after high school.

Please read more here and here.

Mexican immigrant Pfc Jose F. Gonzalez Rodriguez died with Polish immigrant Lance Cpl. Jakub Henryk Kowalik, 21, of Schaumberg, Ill., the Defense Department said in a news release. The two were assigned to the 1st Force Service Support Group at Camp Pendleton, both died: May 12, 2003.

“He’s my hero, my best friend,” said his older brother, Paul Kowalik. “He was a good person, the last person this should happen to.”

Please read more about Lance Cpl. Jakub Henryk Kowalik here.

Rest in peace, young brothers.