Marine home with grateful family
Denver man served 3 tours in Iraq, plans to return to college
By Felix Doligosa Jr., Rocky Mountain News
August 18, 2005

The afternoon flight from Palm Springs arrived in Denver 15 minutes early Wednesday, but not soon enough for Marine Cpl. Dean Sanchez, who was coming home after serving three tours in Iraq.

"All you think about is family and when you're going to see them," he said. "This is the most scared I've been in a year."

Sanchez, a Denver native, spent the past three years fighting the war in Iraq and was greeted by friends and family at Denver International Airport on Wednesday.

As loved ones rushed to the waving hands of Sanchez in a crowded baggage claim area, the Marine relished being around family and girls again. He also can't wait to eat home-cooked tamales and stuffed sopapillas.

"I'm very grateful. I'm going to watch him and feed him," said his mother, Rose Garcia.

Sanchez, 29, is a member of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment that helped provide security in Fallujah and took part in the takeover of Baghdad. Sanchez said he was one of the Marines that helped topple the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.

"I wish I could have done more," he said.

Sanchez has received 10 medals including a Purple Heart when he was hit in the shoulder by a ricochet bullet from a sniper last year. Family members jokingly said he wasn't hurt enough to come home then.

"I'm not going to miss the sand. I'm not going to the beach anytime soon," he said.

His twin sister, LeDawn Sanchez, stood in the background and remained quiet as he hugged friends in the airport. She is a minute younger and said she missed their twin connection.

"I think we feel each other's pain," she said. "He called the day I had my baby. He didn't know. Dean was on his way to Germany and he had an intuition."

LeDawn Sanchez brought her 2-year-old son, Latyr McQuarters to the airport. He was dressed in army fatigues and was still learning the Marine yell, "OORAH."

"A lot has changed since he has been gone," she said. "It was hard not being able to talk to him every day and seeing the war on television and not knowing if he was hurt."

Dean Sanchez's arrival comes at a time when anti-war activists have been protesting outside President Bush's Texas ranch for almost two weeks. Cindy Sheehan, who started the protest because her 24-year-old son was killed last year in Iraq, is asking to speak with the president.

Sanchez backs the war effort and sympathizes with the loved ones of those who died, but he said the soldiers know what they get themselves into when they enlist.

"When you put up your left hand, you swear an allegiance," Sanchez said. "We all joined the Marines knowing what we're doing. There was nothing hidden."

Sanchez said he is getting out of the Marines and plans to attend law school after he finishes his bachelor's degree at Metropolitan State College.

But before he starts thinking more about the future, he wants to chow down on menudo and green chile.

"We ate good food out there, but there's no substitute for home- cooked Mexican food," he said.

Ellie