Slain soldier receives homecoming welcome

FUNERAL SERVICES

>> Public viewing from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. today, with a memorial at 7 p.m., at Rivera Funeral Home, 1813 N. Conway Ave., Mission.

>> The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at San Martin de Porres Catholic Church on 5 Mile Line, west of Conway Avenue, in Alton. Burial will follow immediately at the Rio Grande Valley State Veterans Cemetery, 2520 S. Inspiration Road, Mission.

MISSION — Staff Sgt. Bradley Espinoza’s family wanted him to leave the U.S. Army and not to return to Iraq after two tours, his stepfather said.

Instead, the 26-year-old Mission soldier re-enlisted. He was on his third tour there when he was killed Oct. 19 by an improvised bomb.

Espinoza is the 28th service member from the Rio Grande Valley to die in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, scores of people holding U.S. flags lined the street, watching as Espinoza’s body went from the McAllen-Miller International Airport to Rivera Funeral Home in Mission.

Esmeralda Rosas, Teodora Gonzales, Elizabeth Reyes and her mother of the same name, held a big U.S. flag in front of the funeral home.

“We came to support them because we know the pain,” Rosas said of the fallen soldier’s family. She and the other women had lost family members in the Vietnam War.

“This is a big loss, the loss of a son,” Espinoza’s stepfather, David De León, said in Spanish. “This is not easy and we are trying to be strong for him, because he was proud of his career and we can only now back him up, like we did when he was alive and now in his death.”

The family was thankful for the support they got from the community and the cities of Mission and McAllen.

De León raised Espinoza and his four younger siblings since he was 5 years old, when De León married Espinoza’s mother, Magdalena Espinoza.

The couple has also been caring for Bradley Espinoza’s children, 6-year-old Celeste and 3-year-old Joseph, since the soldier’s wife, Maria, joined the Army and went to training in Houston.

“Bradley was a very playful kid, very active, but he always had a smile on his face,” De León said. “He was always playing jokes for the fun of it. He was very friendly — he had a lot of friends since he was a little kid. I remember him with love, without malice.”

A Mission High School graduate, Bradley Espinoza was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division based in Fort Hood. He entered the Army in July 2002 as a combat engineer and has been stationed at Fort Hood since November 2002, according to a statement from Fort Hood.

Espinoza's awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officers Professional Development Ribbon, and Overseas Service Ribbon.

After some private time for the family, a public viewing was held Tuesday evening at Rivera Funeral Home, 1813 N. Conway Ave., Mission.

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Martha L. Hernández covers Mission, western Hidalgo County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4846.