The Marine Corps, state leaders, friends and family members remained in mourning Tuesday after a New Braunfels man gave his life for his country.
Lance Corporal Brandon Lara died Sunday while serving his second tour in Iraq, cutting short the life of a 20-year-old who was living his dream of serving in the Marine Corps.
“Being a Marine was always something he wanted to do,” said his mother, Gloria Lara. “He knew probably by the age of 10 that he was going to be a Marine.”
In December 2006, the former New Braunfels Canyon High School student began his service, leaving his parents, three sisters and two brothers to enlist in the Marines shortly after his 18th birthday.
A proud family remembered then flying to San Diego in March 2007 to see him graduate from basic training, having turned from man into Marine, or as the Marines Web site states, from “civilian into a member of the United States’ most noble brotherhood.”
Lara was assigned to the to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, out of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif.
And when he was called upon, his family was not surprised to find Lara willing to travel across the globe to fight the enemy in Iraq.
“He was fearless,” Gloria said.
Lara’s first tour stretched from February 2008 to December 2008. He had made it home a few times in between being called back to the battlefield, once for Christmas and again to celebrate one of his sisters’ birthdays. The family had last seen him in February before he made his second and final trip to Iraq.
“He was supposed to be home in time for his 21st birthday,” she said.
Gloria had just spoken with him on Friday, two days before the news came that the former baseball player, who loved shooting paintball, riding his motorcycle and spending time with his family, had been killed while serving abroad.
“Lance Corporal Brandon Lara was a brave Marine who sacrificed his life fighting for the freedoms that are dear to this country,” California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a Monday press release. “We send our deepest condolences to Brandon’s family, friends and fellow Marines as they mourn this terrible loss.”
He died having earned numerous service awards, including the National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
The military has thus far released few details surrounding the actual circumstances of his death.
Press releases from the U.S. Defense Department and the 1st Marine Division’s public affairs office both said Lara had died while “supporting combat operations” in Iraq’s Al Anbar province.
A representative from the Marine public affairs office said that releasing any further information about Lara’s death “would give comfort to the enemy.”
One New Braunfels mother said comfort might lie in knowing her loved one died pursuing his life’s ambition.
“I know he was doing something that he loved doing,” Gloria said. “He wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
