28 MAY 2008

From :  Commanding Officer Herrera, Ramon

To:  All

SUBJ:  ARE FALLEN COMRADES

With Memorial Day passing us and the Fourth of July coming upon us, it is with a great sense of duty that I write to you all.  In these coming months, June and July, I would like us all to take the time to stop and contemplate why our men and women are dying in Iraq.  As I read through the newspaper tributes and obituaries of our fallen comrades, I come to understand more and more that our mission has always been theirs, and we owe it to them to complete this mission in their memory.

 

Our local paper, the Los Angeles Times, has posted “California’s War Dead,” as of 26 May 2008, <http://projects.latimes.com/wardead/list/page/1/>,  and as I scan through these familiar faces and read commentaries from their love ones, I see and hear it:  “(Robert) Abad planned to be a firefighter, go to college and marry his girlfriend. She was expecting their first child when he was killed.”  “Born in Mexico, (David) Jimenez (Almazan) came to the U.S. with his mother and sisters when he was 11 to join his father. Before he went to Iraq, he applied for citizenship. It was granted after his death.”  “I tried to get him to forget the Army. I'd give him choices, tell him, 'You can go to law school or learn computers,' but he said he still wanted to be a soldier.” — Jonathan Contreras said of his son Andres J. Contreras.  “(Marisol) Heredia followed her older sister into the Army after high school. She was severely burned while refueling a generator in Baghdad. Her sister, who had left the service, was at her bedside when she was transported to a U.S. hospital. She died two months after the accident.” (L.A. Times, 2008).  What I hear is they served and died, not for any decision made in Washington to go to war, but, because they wanted to be a part of all Americans.  They fought for a country they loved, and they wanted to imbed this love in their souls through service to it.  They wanted to be a part of the “American Dream.”  Now, we must make them a part of her history.

 

When we live freely amongst the high costs of living, high rents and foreclosures, our last $2.00 for less than a half gallon of gas, standing in the welfare lines to meet the bare necessities, let us never forget that these fallen comrades died for our right to a better life.  Can you hear their cries from the graves when they witness the high school drop-out rates of Hispanics at 90%?  What did we die for?  They Cry!  Read their stories and learn.  Have no shame in demanding your education--hang your head down in not demanding it!  They gave their lives, so you can accomplish what they wished to accomplish.  Yes, the American Dream came with a price, and they earned it for you.  Claim it!  Walk into your classrooms armed with your books on hand and claim your education.  If your teachers sit in their chairs babysitting the masses, open your books and read!  America needs engineers, scientists, doctors, architects, (some lawyers), teachers, many professions that she is willing to import, but I say to you--her womb is ready to give birth to all these professions.

 

Take these two months and read through their obituaries and stories.  Remember our fallen comrades, and honor their memories by making something of yourselves and not letting their deaths go in vain!

 

Semper Fi,

Ramon Herrera/Commanding