From: Philippine News.com. Nov 03, 2004
Another
most recent casualty from the Filipino American population is Army Spc.
Edgar P. Daclan, Jr., of
Long Beach
,
Calif.
Only 24, the Army combat medic was killed September 10 when a hidden
explosive device detonated near his unit in the central Iraqi city of
Balad
, north of
Baghdad
.
A member of an immigrant family that eventually settled in a
Los Angeles
suburb, Daclan was two semesters short of finishing his electrical
engineering degree when he opted to join the war in
Iraq
.
His family is still grappling with awe what great motivation had
triggered his putting his life and limb – his life as it turned out
– where danger was. He was scheduled to go on leave September 25.
Iris
Daclan, Edgar Daclan’s sister who was a Navy veteran herself, having
trained with the Marines as a field medical corpsman (also a medic),
told Philippine News about her brother:
“My family and I are very proud of Edgar’s sacrifice – to
give one’s life for others is the ultimate sacrifice. For now, I
can only speak for myself, but I still grieve for his sudden departure.
Edgar was my only brother, and to see him go so soon is very painful,
especially, the fact that he died so tragically,” she said.
“It does not matter how I or my family for that matter stand
regarding the war in
Iraq
; what’s most important is that Edgar joined the Army to save lives.
He was a combat medic in charge of 35 soldiers. My brother took
care of the troops to the best of his abilities. In fact, we
met a soldier he saved. Edgar would come back from 16
hours mission and would stay up all night to tend to him. Yes, he
was that dedicated to ensuring he would survive his injuries.
Edgar will always be my hero.”
“After his death, his superior officer called in from
Iraq
and informed us that Edgar was a ‘very special solder’. He
stated that he never saw fear in Edgar. He was very courageous,
and he knew his duties,” Daclan recalled.
She said Edgar wrote to one of his friends that their situation in
Iraq
was similar to the movie ‘Black Hawk Down’.
It’s difficult to distinguish the civilians from the enemies, he
was quoted as saying.
“I miss his smile and his laughter…”
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