Marine Lance Cpl. Emmanuel Villarreal

Died May 27, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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21, of Eagle Pass, Texas; assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died May 27 from a nonhostile vehicle accident at Kuwait Naval Base, Kuwait.

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Sister remembers Texas soldier killed in Kuwait

The Associated Press

Marine Lance Cpl. Emmanuel Villarreal had been in Kuwait only a week into his second deployment.

“He had always thought about joining. He just wanted to serve his country,” said Edna Elizabeth Villarreal, his sister.

Villarreal, 21, of Eagle Pass, Texas, died May 27 from a non-combat-related vehicle accident in Kuwait. He was assigned to Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Villarreal’s sister said authorities told the family that the corporal had been loading some heavy artillery when a cable snapped and fatally wounded him.

In between tours, Emmanuel Villarreal married a woman he met while stationed at Camp Pendleton.

Emmanuel and Sylvia Villarreal were wed at his childhood home in Eagle Pass on Dec. 30. “It was an intimate event,” his sister said.

Villarreal enlisted shortly after graduating from C.C. Winn High School. July would have marked his third year in the service, his sister said.

“He was a very good brother. He was always there to help me out with my problems. He was everything to me,” she said.

Instead of attending her high school graduation, she attended her brother’s funeral.