Army Spc. Lauro G. DeLeon Jr.

Died September 8, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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20, of Floresville, Texas; assigned to the 644th Transportation Company, Army Reserve, Beaumont, Texas; killed Sept. 8 when improvised explosive devices detonated near his convoy in Balad, Iraq.

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San Antonio-area soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio-area soldier was killed this week when his vehicle drove over a makeshift bomb in Iraq, according to his family.

Cpl. Lauro DeLeon III, 20, of Floresville died Wednesday, about two months after paying a surprise two-week visit to his family.

“It brings a lot of comfort that the Lord allowed us to have those two weeks,” his mother, Grace Lopez, told the San Antonio Express-News for a Friday story.

While back in Texas, DeLeon went to the movies and out to eat with his family, and fished in Corpus Christi with friends.

Lopez says he talked to her about his religious faith and how the memory of her words had comforted him while he was in Iraq.

“I would tell him, ‘Any time you’re driving and you’re afraid, tell God to make the fear go away, because fear is not of God,”’ she said. “He told me, ‘I did just that, and that is what got me through every time we were attacked.”’

DeLeon, a 2003 graduate of Floresville High School, enlisted shortly after completing his education. He was sent to Iraq earlier this year.