WaPo: “David Espinoza
20, of Rio Bravo, Tex. — On Wednesday, Elizabeth Holguin received a call from her son, who was stationed in Kabul. Before hanging up, he said “I love you,” she told The Post. That was the last time they ever spoke.
Inspired by the prospect of helping others, Espinoza had always dreamed of being a Marine, his mother said. He enlisted after graduating from high school.
“It was his calling and he died a hero,” Holguin said.
Holguin remembered him as a quiet, soft-spoken young man who enjoyed spending time with family and friends. Now, her heart has “a David-sized hole nobody can fill,” she said.
Espinoza graduated in 2019 from Lyndon B. Johnson High School in Laredo, Tex. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) said he “embodied the values, the grit and the dedication” of the country’s service members.
Espinoza hailed from Rio Bravo, a small, predominantly Hispanic enclave some 10 miles away from Laredo, where his mother, stepfather and three younger siblings still live. The news of Espinoza’s death, the congressman said, was unexpected and “hit close to home.”
“When people talk about the border, they have a tendency of forgetting the good, patriotic people that believe in our country,” he said. “David is certainly one of those examples of what we have here at the border: a young man that went across the world trying to get Americans and allies of the U.S. to safety.”
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff to honor the killed U.S. service members, including Espinoza.
“These heroes should never be forgotten,” Abbott wrote on Twitter.”