Reprint from the Progress Times - May 23, 2008
©Progress Times 2008 - All Rights Reserved

 

Community honors fallen Mission soldiers

 

The four fallen soldiers of the Mission, Javier Marin, Omar Flores, Alex Gonzalez and Jose Rubio will all be honored at a Memorial Day ceremony at Leo Pena Plazita Park in Mission, Monday, May 26.

The families of Alex Gonzalez and Jose Rubio will both be presented with plaques care of the Mission ACE Club at the event, which will feature prayers and patriotic songs by local singer, Lucero.

The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. with the unveiling of the memorial dedicated to the four most recent local war casualties planned for the end.

The Catholic War Veterans will also present a 21-gun salute and play "Taps" in honor of the soldiers.

The ceremony in Mission will be just one stop for the Catholic War Veterans who will also present 21-gun salutes and "Taps" at Laurel Hill Cemetery at 11 a.m., the Catholic Cemetery at noon, Granjeno Cemetery at 12:30 p.m. and Penitas Cemetery at 1 p.m.

American Legion Jesus Martinez Post 93 will also be holding Memorial Day services at local cemeteries. The Legion will be at Laurel Hill at 8:30 a.m., San Jose Cemetery at 9 a.m., the Catholic Cemetery at 9:20 a.m., Granjeno Cemetery at 10 a.m. and at the Texas Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery at 11 a.m. Anyone with questions or would like more information can call Rudy Flores at 648-7992.

In McAllen, the public is invited to attend a Memorial Day program at 9 a.m. at the Veteran’s War Memorial of Texas located next to the McAllen Convention Center on Ware Road.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Ivan Melendez, an Army flight surgeon serving with the Cavalry regiment, Aviation brigade. During his time in Iraq Melendez served in many capacities including road security, community security, field surgery, human affairs and flying in Black Hawk and Apache helicopters.

Melendez is currently working at Rio Grande Regional Hospital in the emergency room and the Mission and Edinburg hospitals in the critical care units until his deployment back to Iraq in December.

The 28 Valley soldiers lost in Iraq and Afghanistan will be honored during this ceremony to remember all Americans who have given their lives in service. For more information contact Frank Plummer at 631-2511 or Jan Hartzog at 605-3486.