Victor H Toledo Pulido

Hanford, California

May 23, 2007

Age

Military

Rank

Unit/Location

Army

Cpl

3d Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized)

Fort Benning, Georgia

Killed in Al Nahrawan, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle.

Among the dead heroes was Army Corporal Victor H. Toledo-Pulido, 22, of Hanford, California. Toledo-Pulido was approximately seven years old when a smuggler brought him, his brother and his mother over the mountains from Mexico into the United States.

As a child, he worked difficult jobs, such as picking grapes and other crops in the fields of the California's central valley with an uncle. In 1999, he was able to become a legal resident.

He was killed with one other soldier when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle near Nahrawan, southeast of Iraq.

Captain Troy Thomas, who survived the same attack, sent an e-mail to the LA Times saying: "It's hard to explain the rush of emotion in a time like that. People should not have to experience that feeling. It is because of brave human beings like Victor that war is only witnessed by a few so the majority can live free and never experience what I felt that day……What does it take to prove your worth as an American? Well, if you ask me, Victor Toledo-Pulido showed his worth by serving his nation and his family."