Kaneohe Marine dies in Iraq
His brother recalls a feeling of foreboding before he shipped out
Marine Pvt. Edwardo Lopez had seen combat in Afghanistan last year.
On Sept. 8, the 21-year-old Marine Corps private shipped out to another war zone: Iraq.
He left Kaneohe Bay with the same unit he had fought with in Afghanistan -- 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment -- after spending the Labor Day weekend at home in Aurora, Ill., with his family.
His brother, Alex, said the deployment to Iraq triggered more foreboding than Afghanistan.
"We did feel something was going to happen," Alex Lopez told the Chicago Tribune. "And my brother did, too. He cried, and he hugged me with a passion."
Lopez, 21, died Friday from wounds he received while on patrol in the Al Anbar province. He was the sixth member of Kaneohe Bay's 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, to be killed in Iraq since the unit arrived there in August.
He was the 105th servicemember with Hawaii ties to die in Iraq since the U.S. invaded the country in March 2003.
Lopez enlisted in April 2004 and was assigned to Kaneohe six months later. He served in Afghanistan from May 2005 to January 2006 and was sent to Iraq nine months later.
His family members told the Chicago paper that Lopez loved war movies, paintball games and was an outgoing man who was dedicated to his country.
"I'm just thinking that it's going to be hard for me to keep going in life," his mother, Martha, told the newspaper. "He was my right hand."
Lopez loved cooking and could make his own tortillas. His mother described him as someone who watched out for neighbors -- like the time one couldn't get her front door locked late one night and he went over to help.
Martha Lopez last talked with her son by phone on Oct. 15, when he called to thank her for the box filled with Gummy Bears, Twizzlers and other desert warfare necessities.
He said he wouldn't be in touch for about three weeks.
"You pray for me, Mommy," he told her. "And tell everyone I love them very much."
Lopez is also survived by his father, Eduardo.
