In Mexico, burying soldiers killed in a U.S. war

[saigon68]

In Mexico, burying soldiers killed in a U.S. war
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By James C. McKinley Jr. The New York Times

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/22/news/soldier.html

DEGOLLADO, Mexico The shrine set up on a broken television in the corner would be familiar to many American military families. The somber Stars and Stripes is folded neatly in a triangle, encased in wood and glass. A couple of medals lie in boxes, collecting dust.
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A stern young man in his dress U.S. Army uniform peers at visitors from a small photograph. His dog tags hang beside the photo. A photo of the same young man with his even younger wife caught in a swirl of laughter, is nearby.These are relics of a life cut short in the name of honor, liberty and country.Yet many in Mexico oppose the war in Iraq.

The mementos are not in a living room in upstate New York or rural Virginia, but in an impoverished house with concrete floors in a dusty town deep in the hills of central Mexico. The soldier, Private First Class Jesús Fonseca, 19, was not a U.S. citizen, but one of at least 22 Mexican citizens who have died fighting for the United States in two years of war.

As of January, about 41,000 permanent resident aliens were in the U.S. armed forces, 3,639 of them from Mexico. The Mexicans are the largest group among the 63 immigrants who have been killed in action in Iraq, the Pentagon says.

[physioex]

1. I have noticed from television...

That is a large percentage of Mexicans in the military. I think it is a matter of getting the poor kids from the urban areas to go fight the white man's war.

P.S. And by white man, I don't mean the good folks at DU. You people know what I am saying.

[Midnight Rambler]

2. Now that I think about it...

I went to an overwhelmingly Hispanic high school on the border. Makes me wonder if there have been any kids from my school that have been killed. Since I don't keep in touch with anyone from there anymore, I guess I'll find out in six years at the first reunion.