Marine Recalled as Popular, Upbeat

SANTA ANA —  Jose Elizarraras knew there would be risks when he enlisted in the Marine Corps four months after graduating from Century High School in 1994. But the 20-year-old Santa Ana native relished the idea of serving his country.

“I remember he came to visit me one day after basic training in his uniform, with his hat tucked underneath his arm,” Century High teacher Ann Hays said Monday. “He was so proud to be in the Marines. That was his dream.”

News that Elizarraras was among those killed Friday when two Marine Corps helicopters collided during nighttime exercises in North Carolina has shaken the staff at Century High, who remember him as popular and upbeat.

“He’s the kind of kid you never forget,” Hays said. “He was the kind of kid you’d want your daughter to marry.”

Lorretta Mendoza, a security officer at Century High who befriended Elizarraras, learned of his death Sunday on a television news broadcast.

“I was just devastated,” she said. “For a kid like that who had so much of a future, it hurt so much.”

On Monday, Elizarraras’ parents and three sisters flew in military aircraft from the El Toro base to Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps training base near Jacksonville, N.C. A military service for the victims was scheduled for this morning at the base, authorities said.

Elizarraras’ family has not yet made local arrangements.

The collision occurred when a CH-46 Sea Knight transport helicopter and an AH-1 Cobra assault ship were participating in a mock amphibious landing. Fourteen people aboard the two craft were killed. The pilot and co-pilot of the Sea Knight survived.

Elizarraras was assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a mobile force that over the years has been sent into hot spots around the world. He worked as a radio specialist.

Mendoza said Elizarraras wanted to join the military because he believed it would lead to better things in life.

“His parents couldn’t afford to send him to school, so he saw the Marines as his way to go to school,” she said. “He also knew it was an honorable thing to do.”

Mendoza wrote Elizarraras’ parents a letter after learning of his death. “I wanted them to know that he touched so many people’s lives,” she said. “He was really a fine young man.”

She said Elizarraras ran track and played football. He was never a star athlete, but “he gave 110%.”

Hays said school officials plan to talk to Elizarraras’ parents about starting a scholarship in his memory.