MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. -- The Marines of the Marine Corps Tactics and Operations Group aboard the Combat Center joined the loved ones of a fallen Marine to honor his life and service at the Protestant Chapel July 31.
Friends, families and co workers of Sgt. Jose A. Esquivel, a communications chief with MCTOG, gathered to honor a man who was killed in a car accident while visiting friends and family in Whittier, Calif., July 19.
Esquivel served three tours in Iraq.
A memorial was held for his family at the Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary in Whittier, Calif., July 27.
Marines and civilians of MCTOG were given the same opportunity to pay respects to a good Marine and family man during Esquivel’s memorial.
“He was an excellent judge of character,” said Sgt. Miguel Anderson, a data network specialist with MCTOG, and a close friend of Esquivel. “He had a way of making the best of a bad situation. He could always find a way to calm me down if I had a hot head, but I don’t think I ever saw him lose his cool. He was always so focused.”
Kent Satterwhite, an information technology specialist with MCTOG, also worked closely with Esquivel and spoke a few words to the crowd about the man he knew.
“I’m not a Marine,” Satterwhite said. “But I work with them every day, and I can tell you there is no brotherhood like it. Sgt. Esquivel’s friendship was the best kind you could ever ask for.”
Sgt. Fredy Esquivel, Jose’s twin brother, and a senior drill instructor with Company A, Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, expressed thanks to his brother’s command and fellow Marines.
“I know you took care of him the same way he took care of his family,” Fredy said. “And for that I thank you on behalf of our whole family.”
While standing in front of the congregation and behind a wooden lectern, Fredy gripped each side of the lectern and recalled memories of his brother’s senior drill instructor allowing him to attend Fredy’s boot camp graduation a few weeks before his own.
“When I graduated, my drill instructor came up to me and said ‘you and your brother are not just brothers anymore,” Fredy said. “You are twins. You are Marines.’ For so long, I tried to be an individual, but then I realized I can’t because he will always be a part of me.”
Esquivel is survived by his wife Desiree and two daughters Jenivee, 4, and Janelle, 10 months.