Musings of the Chronologically Challenged™ Fourth Generation

 

My three cousins, twice removed, and a couple of old friends in nursing homes will not see this tribute from Misha unless it is totally copied here for them. Ergo -


Jose Gutierrez, In Memoriam
We would like to take this time out to honor one of our fallen heroes, chosen because he embodied the very essence of this great nation.

Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez was a U.S. Marine who grew up an orphan in war-torn Guatemala.

Hoping for a better life, he trekked by train, foot and bus all the way to the United States, determined to become an American, where he found a new family at age 14.

Later, when he came of age, he joined the U.S. Marines because he felt that he owed it to the country that had given him a new life and went off to fight for all of us in far-off lands, where he found a hero's death on the battlefield of Umm Qasr on March 21st, 2003.

I would say that he died a true American, but that wouldn't do him justice.

In my opinion, Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez was an American from birth, he just happened to be born outside the United States.

We mourn with his foster family, the Mosqueras of Lomita, CA, who gave this brave young man a new life and we mourn the loss of a great American.

A loss to his family and a loss to this nation that he gave his young life for.

May his place in Heaven be a prominent one and may his memory live on forever.

Posted by Misha I at 06:09 PM | Comments (19) |

See the article that moved Misha here.



posted by HCL at 5:39 PM