Community supports slain Mission soldier

Funeral Arrangements

Wednesday public viewing at Rivera Funeral Home located on 1813 N. Conway in Mission from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with a memorial at 7 p.m.

The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at 11 a.m. at the San Martin de Porres Catholic Church on 5 Mile Line, west of Conway Avenue in Alton. He will be immediately after buried at the Rio Grande Valley State Veterans Cemetery in Mission

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

Instead, the 26 year-old Mission soldier re-enlisted for his third tour when he was killed by an improvised bomb.

Espinoza is the 28th serviceman 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 the 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" said Rosas. She and the other women had lost family members in the Vietnam war.

"This is a big loss, the loss of a son, 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," Espinoza’s step-father, David De León, said in Spanish.

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

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

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

"Bradley was a very playful kid, very active, but he always had a smile in his face, 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," De Leon said.

Espinoza — a Mission High School graduate — was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division based in Fort Hood. He entered the U.S. 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 a private time for the family, a public viewing was Tuesday evening at the Rivera Funeral Home located on 1813 N. Conway in Mission.

The viewing will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. today.

The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at the San Martin de Porres Catholic Church on 5 Mile Line, west of Conway Avenue in Alton.