IN MEMORY
Private First-Class Luis A. Moreno
Born in the Dominican Republic, Luis A. Moreno came to the United States in 1991 with his family and wanted to become a police officer. Pfc. Moreno, 19, of the Bronx, died Jan. 29 from wounds suffered after he was shot while on guard duty at a gas station in Baghdad. He was based at Fort Riley, Kan. After graduating from high school, Moreno enlisted in the Army and had been stationed in Baghdad for three months. His family spoke to him about two weeks before he was shot.
Corporal Ramona M. Valdez
Ramona M. Valdez was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in New York. During her teens she got her first job working at the Statue of Liberty and when she was 17, she received permission from her mother to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. Valdez served as a communications specialist and was later deployed to Iraq. On June 23, 2005, days before her 21st birthday, Valdez was in a convoy that was ambushed by a suicide bomber. Many troops, including Valdez did not survive.
Staff Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda
Tejeda came to the United States from the Dominican Republic as a child and spent his formative years in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Having served eight years in the Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Tejeda tragically lost his life during combat operations against enemy forces in northeast Baghdad on April 11, 2003. He leaves behind two daughters, aged 3 and 6, as his legacy.
Lt Esteban Hotesse
Esteban Hotesse was the only Dominican-born member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, as well as one of the few people born in a Spanish-speaking nation to serve the United Stated during World War II. in the town of Moca. On July 8, 1945, Hotesse and the rest of his five-member crew embarked on a typical aircraft training exercise. Unfortunately, the plane went too low, and crashed, killing Hotesse, the pilot, and the co-pilot. He was only twenty-six at the time of his death, and he left behind his wife and two young daughters who were born shortly before he enlisted in the service.
Sergeant Johanny Rosario Pichardo
Growing up in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Rosario Pichardo reportedly excelled in math, science and technology and avidly participated in student government and junior ROTC. Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo was among 13 U.S. service members killed when a suicide bomber detonated outside Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 26, 2021.
Corporal Juan M Alcantara
Born in the Dominican Republic, Alcántara moved to Washington Heights with his family at a young age
After graduating high school in 2004, he enlisted in the Army, hoping to earn money to enroll in college after his service. His tour of duty in Iraq was extended four months past the date he was to return, June 28th, 2007, – the day before his daughter was born. Corporal Alcantara, 22, was one of four soldiers killed on Aug. 6 in Baquba, Iraq, after a bomb detonated while they were checking for explosives in abandoned houses.
