Jesus Gonzalez wore his heritage on his left shoulder.
Etched into his skin was a tattoo: "Hecho en Mexico." Made in Mexico.
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Radical Turn For A Rebel
GREEN CARD MARINES / RADICAL TURN FOR A REBEL
The war in Iraq drew attention to the growing number of noncitizens serving in the U.S. military -- about 37,000. Seven of the 10 killed were from California. Most were Latino. This is the last of four portraits of Green Card Marines who gave their lives.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday May 30, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 38 words Type of Material: Correction
Green card Marines -- A photo caption accompanying an article on Marine Lance Cpl. Jesus A. Gonzalez in Wednesday's California section incorrectly stated that Marines were standing at attention at Gonzalez's grave. They were standing at parade rest.
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His family had come north in 1989; his mother went to work for Cesar Chavez, helping the United Farm Workers organize. As a young teen, Jesus followed his stepfather into the broiling grape fields of the Coachella Valley. At Indio High School, he wore a brown beret and modeled himself after Che Guevara, helping lead a demonstration against Proposition 187 that drew 500 students and got him suspended. He learned how to pray for peace in a Native American sweat lodge and how to welcome the dawn with chants and burning sage.
Jesus Angel Gonzalez seemed, in every way, a radical in the making.
Then in his freshman year at UC Riverside, he took everyone by surprise.
He quit college and joined the Marines.
Years earlier, during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Jesus had marched with his parents to a weapons factory on the outskirts of Coachella. In the 2003 Iraq war, Jesus stormed across the desert in a tank.
He wasn't supposed to be in Iraq. His four-year hitch was to have ended April 4. But he was among the Marines ordered to serve another year because of the war.
Signing up, he told family and friends, had been a mistake. He wanted to spend his time with his 2-year-old daughter, Delilah.
A week before shipping out, Jesus married Ivonne, the mother of his daughter, at the Indio courthouse. She had just turned 18 and wore a pink floral print dress. He wore his Marine uniform. They celebrated with dinner at the local Sizzler. Afterward, they kissed and he returned to the base.
There was a mix-up on the day Jesus left for Iraq, his wife said. She and Delilah couldn't get a ride to see him off. Jesus waited alone as others hugged their loved ones and said their goodbyes.
He never saw his family again.
In his last letters to Ivonne, he sounded troubled, about his fate, about their marriage. He had dreamed she died in a car accident. While waiting in Kuwait, Jesus wrote how sandstorms had ripped down the shelters they'd put up. "I'm this close to losing my head," he wrote. "Everything's gotten real ugly."
In his last letter, dated March 17, Jesus revealed his despair, "I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what's going on. I don't know what to tell you."
