VIA L.A. TIMES
Sgt. Jose L. Saenz III, from San Antonio, TX, died Monday while on foot patrol, Saenz was described as a young man who loved to play football, fish, and go to every Spurs game he could.
Saenz’s mother told the local papers that; ‘I feel like it’s still a dream, and I want to wake up,’.
Saenz, 30, was a motor transport maintenance technician from Pleasanton, Texas. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in June 2003 and was on his first combat assignment. Saenz leaves behind a wife and a 5-year-old son, Jose IV.
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Saenz was a true hero to his family and he was just about everything — a U.S. Marine, a prankster, an only son and a twin brother. More than anything, relatives said, Saenz was fearless, the kind of person who stayed strong even in the toughest of times.
“We were all just screaming,” said his sister Patricia.
His mother cried and yelled at the military officials to leave. “Why did you come here?” she had demanded. “You have the wrong house.”
Saenz was the second GI from the San Antonio area killed in Afghanistan within a week. Army Pfc. John Andrade, 19, was killed Friday after he was hit with an IED. “I feel like it’s still a dream, and I want to wake up,” said Saenz’s mother, Leonor Saenz, Wednesday afternoon. Then she broke into a deep, long sob.
