Marine honors the fallen

Local Marine honors the fallen
By Shaun Bishop


Daily News Staff Writer


The gold-colored rubber bracelet on Lance Cpl. Donnie Salas' right wrist serves as a remembrance for his friend, Eric Ward.

In bold red letters, the bracelet bears the name of Ward, who served with Salas in the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines Regiment in southern Afghanistan.

Ward, a 19-year-old lance corporal from Redmond, Wash., was killed by an improvised explosive device, or IED, in February. "Always in our hearts," the bracelet reads.

On Monday — two days after Salas returned to the Bay Area from a seven-month deployment in Afghanistan — he sat in the living room of his East Palo Alto home, reflecting on the need to remember the fallen.


Salas, 19, plans to get a tattoo this week memorializing Ward and another friend — Jacob Ross, 19, of Gillette, Wyo., a member of the same battalion who was shot and killed in March.

"Now (Memorial Day) has way deeper meaning to me, because now I'm considered a 'vet ' — and it's to honor the fallen," said Salas, humble and stoic but occasionally flashing a smile during an hourlong interview. "I figure we should honor them."

Salas' return home Saturday morning came after an intense tour of duty in Helmand Province, a Taliban stronghold on the border of Pakistan. Before touching down in the Bay Area, he received two weeks of training for post-traumatic stress disorder at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base in North Carolina.
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Local Marine honors the fallen