Marine’s Burial Renews the Pain

BACKGROUND: On Thanksgiving View looked at the life of Marine Sgt. Joseph Trujillo, of Deming, N.M., who was 20 when a land mine exploded near him in Vietnam. He was listed as missing in action until November, when his remains were repatriated and identified--and loved ones made plans to bury him.

UPDATE: Joseph Trujillo was buried on Friday at Arlington National Cemetery. Although 26 years had passed since he disappeared, the pain of his death was fresh for those whose lives he touched. Fifteen friends and family members traveled to Virginia to see Trujillo laid to rest by Marines in full dress uniform.

“It was very emotional for me,” William Drummond, Trujillo’s foster father, said after the ceremony. “We got more done in a couple of years together than most people do in a lifetime.”

Margaret Wilmot, 44, whom Trujillo had dubbed his “sister” when they were best friends as teen-agers, said Trujillo’s kindness and empathetic nature had influenced her to become a social worker. Trujillo’s brief life was not a waste, said Marine Chaplain Russell Gunter. In his short time, he “touched and changed” many lives.