Blogger and MSNBC combat correspondent Kevin Sites is in Iraq, and has posted a new entry to his blog today.
When he was nine years old Carlos Gomez crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico to the U.S. with his father, mother and two sisters. They had heard stories about the opportunities in America, dreamed about them, wanted them so badly they ran through oncoming traffic on the 805 freeway to get to them. They didn’t stop until they reached San Diego. Fear, fatigue and La Migra slowly fading into the southern horizon like their homeland.They stayed. Dealt with the slurs–beaners, greasers, wetbacks. Overcame them. Paid back America’s opportunities with hard, menial labor. Made a fraction of what citizens and legal immigrants made–but never complained.
And 12 years later, in Falluja, Iraq, Marine Lance Corporal Gomez would pay it back again–but this time with his blood.
