Intel

Hometown Remembers Marine Cpl. Humberto Sanchez: ‘My Kid Was a Hero’

September 2, 2021Dustin Jones
humerto sanchez

The Logansport, Indiana, fire and police departments staged a tribute to Humberto Sanchez, a local Marine killed in the Abbey Gate explosion on Aug. 26, 2021. Photos from LPD, USMC.

Logansport, Indiana, soccer coach Mike Turner remembers Humberto Sanchez from 2016.


“He was, in a sense, he was a soldier,” Turner told the Pharos-Tribune. “You have role players on your team and we categorize guys. We have soldiers, soldier artists, artist soldiers and artists, and he was a soldier. That was in a sense that’s what he was, even in life, because he left to go be a soldier in the Marines.”


At the team’s Senior Night — the last home game when seniors are celebrated in a pregame ceremony — most of the players announced where they were headed to college.


“His of course was going to the Marines,” Turner told the newspaper. “He really was excited about being a Marine. He had been talking about it since his junior year.”


A US Marine Corps carry team transfers the remains of Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto Sanchez of Logansport, Indiana, Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. Sanchez was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California. US Air Force photo by Jason Minto.

Sanchez was killed Thursday, Aug. 26, when a suicide bomber detonated outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The blast killed 13 US service members — the most American combat deaths in a single incident in Afghanistan in more than a decade — and wounded another 18.


In the young Marine’s hometown of Logansport, the Sanchez family is grieving the loss of a son, brother, and uncle. On Facebook, Carol “Abi” Cárdenas wrote about Sanchez, her brother.


“I used to always say you were my rock,” she wrote. “As long as I had you I could get through anything as I’d be okay. How will I ever be okay without you.”


Another opportunity to let the world know his plans got sidetracked. When a senior prank went bad at the school, Sanchez got hit with a punishment that at first didn’t strike his family as so bad: He would not be allowed to walk across the stage at his graduation.


Humberto Sanchez in an undated photograph released by the Marine Corps.

But there was a far worse result, Sanchez’s mother told The Cullman Times: When the school acknowledged graduates joining the military, they wouldn’t name Sanchez.


“His friends’ names were called, but his wasn’t. That was heartbreaking,” Coral Briseño told the paper.


“My kid was a hero.”


Now, regardless of who did or didn’t hear his plans, in Marine Corps history, his name will ring out.


The 13 American service members killed in the Aug. 26 bombing were:


Lance Cpl. David Lee Espinoza, USMC | Laredo, TX

Sgt. Nicole Gee, USMC | Roseville, CA

Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, USMC | Salt Lake City, UT

Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, US Army | Knoxville, TN

Cpl. Hunter Lopez, USMC | Indio, CA

Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, USMC | Bondurant, WY

Cpl. Dylan Merola, USMC | Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, USMC | Norco, CA

Cpl. Daegan William-Tyeler Page, USMC | Omaha, NE

Sgt. Johanny Rosario, USMC | Lawrence, MA

Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, USMC | Logansport, IN

Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, USMC | Wentzville, MO

Navy Corpsman Maxton Soviak, US Navy | Berlin Heights, OH


Read Next: Wheels Up: The United States Officially Leaves Afghanistan



Dustin Jones
Dustin Jones

Dustin Jones is a former senior staff writer for Coffee or Die Magazine covering military and intelligence news. Jones served four years in the Marine Corps with tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. He studied journalism at the University of Colorado and Columbia University. He has worked as a reporter in Southwest Montana and at NPR. A New Hampshire native, Dustin currently resides in Southern California.

More from Coffee or Die Magazine
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway: Where America's March to Victory Began

The US Navy outwitted and outfought the Imperial Japanese Navy to secure victory in the do-or-die Battle of Midway.

ukraine russia stalemate
Ukraine Tries To End Stalemate; Russia Says It Repelled Attacks

Ukrainian forces were making a major effort to end months of a battlefield stalemate and punch throu...

dad
Mustaches, Short-Shorts, and MP5s: Rad Dad Operators

With Father’s Day rapidly approaching, take a look back at some of the raddest dads to ever walk the planet.

world war II vets utah beach
World War II Veterans Return to Utah Beach To Commemorate D-Day

Dozens of World War II veterans, mostly Americans and British, traveled to Normandy this week to mar...

Pastrana
Wounded Veterans Gather for an Epic Day at Pastranaland

Keeping up his family tradition, action sports legend Travis Pastrana hosted wounded veterans at his 65-acre ‘Pastranaland’ over Memorial Day weekend.

fort bragg fort liberty
Fort Bragg Drops Confederate Namesake for Fort Liberty

Fort Bragg shed its Confederate namesake Friday to become Fort Liberty in a ceremony some veterans s...

father's day
Father’s Day Gift Guide: Don’t Disappoint Your Dad … Again

It’s less than two weeks until Father’s Day, and last-minute gifts for Dad are harder to come by tha...

  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Careers
Contact Us
  • Request a Correction
  • Write for Us
  • General Inquiries
© 2023 Coffee or Die Magazine. All Rights Reserved