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Lest We Forget... Corporal Ramona M. Valdez was a young woman inspired by duty to her family and country. Valdez grew up in New York and decided to join the US Marine Corps as a way to help her family financially. At the age of 17, she convinced her mother to co-sign her enlistment papers. Valdez served as a communications specialist and was later deployed to Iraq. On June 23, 2005, Valdez was serving with the Female Search team where she helped guard checkpoints and search Iraqi women and children. Her convoy was on its way back to Camp Fallujah when a suicide bomber in a car, veered across a road and swerved directly into the convoy, causing a massive explosion. Corporal Valdez and two other women and three men were killed, and seven other women were severely burned. She was three days short of her 21st birthday. Memorial day ✝️🇺🇸. It’s not just for picnics