Evenor Christopher Herrera
Burial Details
Obituaries
Denver Post - August 12, 2005
Denver – A Marine who was killed while fighting in Iraq this week joined the Corps looking for a brighter future, his younger brother said today.
Lance Cpl. Evenor C. Herrera, 22, of Gypsum, died Wednesday from injuries he suffered when a bomb exploded during combat near Ar Ramadi, the Defense Department reported.
“He was a great person. He was an American hero,” his brother, Balmore Herrera said, in a phone interview. “He was a great person, and he won’t be forgotten by us.” Evenor Herrera was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Balmore Herrera, 20, a Marine who recently joined the same division, said his brother joined the Marines nearly three years ago.
“I just know he wanted a better future. He didn’t want a dead-end job,” the younger Herrera said.
The unit was conducting combat operations at the time of the attacks, and Evenor Herrera was serving as a machine gunner, his brother said.
Herrera’s unit was attached to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Defense Department said.
The brothers last spoke about three weeks ago and talked about going to Las Vegas in November.
Balmore Herrera learned from his mother in Avon that his older brother had died.
“It still hasn’t hit me yet. I know about it, but I don’t want to believe it,” he said.
The brothers also have two older sisters.
Evenor Herrera, who went to Eagle Valley High School, liked spending time with family and friends, fishing and snowboarding.
“He had a positive attitude. He always looked at the brighter side of things, no matter the situation,” Balmore Herrera said.
“He always wanted to be in charge, pretty much. He was a good brother. We’re only a year apart. We had a lot of fun.” Memorial services were pending.
Military Times website - August 10, 2005
Marine Lance Cpl. Evenor C. Herrera
Died August 10, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom
22, of Gypsum, Colo.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; attached to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward); died Aug. 10 of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was conducting combat operations near Ramadi, Iraq.
Marine was shy on the outside, outgoing on the inside
Associated Press
The stories about Evenor C. Herrera came easily. How he was shy around girls and sought advice from his older sister. How he was fearless and once drove a four-wheel drive truck down a muddy hill, nearly flipping it over.
How he stayed up all night watching World Cup soccer matches a few years ago and then showed up for classes the next day bleary-eyed.
Herrera, 22, of Gypsum, Colo., died Aug. 10 from a bomb blast near Ramadi. He graduated high school in 2001 and was assigned to Camp Pendleton.
"He was quiet if you didn't know him, but to people who knew him, he was really outgoing," said his brother, Balmore Herrera. His family immigrated from Honduras in 1992. He began talking about joining the Army when he was only 10.
"He was always interested in that," said Balmore. "G.I. Joe was a big thing back then."
He also enjoyed typical mountain activities like fishing and snowboarding, and the brothers often camped together.
"My son, I promised to be with you and I'm here," his mother, Blanca Herrera, said at his funeral. "God bless you, and you'll be in my heart all of the time."
Vail Daily page A4 - August 18, 2005
GYPSUM ” The body of fallen Marine Evenor Herrera was escorted downvalley to Glenwood Springs by a tribute of law enforcement officers in patrol vehicles on Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s tough to lose a loved one, especially one from Eagle County,” said Moses Gonzales, code enforcement officer for the Vail Police.
The Minturn Veterans of Foreign Wars post had Gonzalez organize the escort for the hearse carrying Herrera’s body, which will lie in the United Methodist Church in Eagle for 24 hours beginning Thursday at 9 a.m.
The public is invited to view Herrera’s body at the church at 138 Howard St., said David Stibbs, the Marine’s stepfather.
Shortly after 10 a.m. on Friday, a procession will take Herrera’s body to Sunset View Cemetery for a military burial.
Herrera, 22, of Gypsum, died Aug. 10 when a bomb exploded during combat near Ar Ramadi, Iraq, about 35 miles west of Fallujah. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Stibbs ” who lives in Avon with Herrera’s mother, Blanca Stibbs ” said he is relieved to have his stepson at home. Herrera’s body arrived in Denver today from Dover, Md.
Included in the escort beginning at Vail Pass were Vail police and the Colorado State Patrol. Other law enforcement and fire departments were expected to join the escort.
“We’re all in it together,” Gonzales said. “A lot of the people helping with this escort are veterans.”
Herrera, an Eagle Valley High School graduate, immigrated with his family from San Pedro Sula, Honduras in 1992.
Staff Writer J.K. Perry can be reached at 949-0555, ext. 450, or jkperry@vaildaily.com.
Vail Daily - August 17, 2015
EAGLE — It was a lifetime ago that United States Marine Evenor Herrera died serving the country he loved, his nieces’ and nephews’ entire lifetimes.
His family and friends gathered in Eagle to remember and celebrate his life, on the 10th anniversary of his death, on August 10, 2005.
Evenor’s brother, Balmore, and his sister, Stella, arranged the celebration. Relatives came in from all over the country to gather in the Eagle cemetery, as they did a decade ago.
At first Blanca Stibbs, their mom, wasn’t certain about it. She had buried her son once, and once in a lifetime ought to do it.
Like everyone else, though, she was glad they did it.
“We wanted family to be able to come,” Stella said. “My brother was a very important part of our lives.”
“LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MYSELF”
Balmore Herrera, Evenor’s brother, is a former Marine. He said he still thinks about it all the time. Balmore is married with a couple kids and working as a police officer in Eagle.
“The what ifs are what eats at you. Would he have kids? Would he be married? Would he still be in the Marines?” Balmore said.
Evenor was 9 years old when the family immigrated from Honduras, the same age his niece Reyah Herrera is now. She spoke during her uncle’s 10th anniversary celebration.
For this memorial she wrote a letter to him, and read it for the crowd. She had seen the pictures, heard the stories, and watched the funny videos Evenor and his siblings made.
“To my uncle Chris,” she wrote. “You went to heaven. Let me tell you a little about myself …”
Then she did.
She ended with “You truly are my hero.”
The celebration opened with the U.S. and Honduran national anthems, and the Marine Corps Hymn. As they played, the rain that had been threatening parted and the sun shone through.
If there was a dry eye in the house, they were lying eyes.
GETTING THAT CALL
Balmore was stationed in Okinawa when his brother was killed. He was stateside in Camp Pendleton, Calif., when he got the news.
Stella was with her mother in Florida. The phone rang at 2 a.m.
“I was shocked. In the middle of the night you don’t expect to get calls like that,” Stella said.
“It was devastating. You lost your brother. You know it’s a possibility when you sign up. I was a Marine, as well,” Balmore said. “Whenever you hear about a service member passing overseas, you think about it and it all comes back for a moment. We think about our brother.”
On August 10, 2005, Marine Lance Cpl. Evenor C. Herrera, died from wounds received when an IED exploded during a battle near Ar Ramadi, Iraq.
He was 22 years old.
He had been in Iraq six months and was a month and a half from coming home.
He joined U.S. Marine Corps a year after graduating from Gypsum’s Eagle Valley High School.
They local VFW gives a scholarship every year to an Eagle Valley High School student in Evenor’s name.
“It’s sad. On the other hand the U.S. is what it is because of people like my brother who have paid the ultimate sacrifice,” Balmore said.
Why the Marines?
“We wanted to be part of something special. The Marines have the reputation of being the best. It’s something that sticks to you and take with you for the rest of your life. Once a Marine, always a Marine,” Balmore said.
KEEPING THE TRADITION
Almost two dozen police and fire fighters attended the 10th anniversary celebration, all in uniform, led by Jon Asper, retired Eagle fire chief. Ten years ago the Marines guarded Herrera’s casket around the clock, a tradition they keep until their fallen is buried. Asper housed them all at the Eagle firehouse.
Ten years ago the Vail Daily’s Scott Miller wrote a heart-rending story about Evenor’s death. It’s in a neatly bound memorial book between letters from Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
After the ceremony the family hosted a dinner at the Brush Creek Pavilion. The star attraction was a Purple Heart cake made by Mountain Flour.
Everyone over ate.
YOU KNOW THIS MAN
Not so long ago, shoppers stopped their rush out of a local big box store as they passed an emotional exhibit, “Remembering Our Fallen.”
Most scanned the faces of 87 Coloradans killed in The War on Terror up to that time, while wearing our country’s uniform in a war zone. Eighty-seven people, all so young, so much promise and potential, snuffed out.
Do they know any of them?
They do. Evenor Herrera’s brave young face is among them.
Vail Daily page A2 - September 11, 2021
A memorial service recognizing the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks will take place in Eagle County on Saturday.
A convoy of first responders and vehicles will meet at Ford Park in Vail at 12:30 p.m. and will depart for Edwards Freedom Park at 1 p.m. The community is welcome to line up along the route or join in at Freedom Park for the memorial service beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Since the start of the war on terror in 2001, Eagle County has lost three local servicemen.
Eagle County residents Derek Dennison and John Shaw Vaughan both died at age 23 while serving in the U.S. military and Lance Cpl. Evenor Herrera, of Gypsum, died at age 22. Herrera and Dennison both died in August of 2005, Vaughan died in June of 2006.
All three men graduated high school in Eagle County in 2001, a few months before the attacks.
Vaughan and Dennison were Cub Scouts together in Eagle County as children and both graduated from Battle Mountain High School in 2001. Herrera graduated Eagle Valley High School in 2001 and worked at the Vail Valley Jet Center for a year before becoming a U.S. Marine in November of 2002.
Dennison died in San Diego when he was serving in the U.S. Navy. Vaughan was killed in Mosul, Iraq, after being shot by a sniper. Herrera died from an improvised explosive device in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, about 35 miles west of Fallujah.
Herrera's brother, Balmore Herrera, said the military helped his brother find direction after high school. Evenor Herrera decided to join the Marines after learning that Balmore was also going to be a Marine.
"He wanted to serve a bigger purpose," Balmore said.
Evenor Herrera's first term in Iraq began in January of 2004. He fought in the first battle of Fallujah in April of 2004 before starting a second tour in March of 2005. He was five months into his second tour when he was killed.
After learning of his brother's death, Balmore decided not to reenlist.
"One son was enough for my mom to lose," Balmore said.
Balmore is now a police officer for the town of Avon. He said he enjoys talking about his brother in an effort to keep his memory alive.
A classic air medical helicopter landing is scheduled for 1:50 p.m. at Edwards Freedom Park with a memorial service beginning at 2 p.m. All are welcome to join.
"A person never really dies until they're forgotten," Balmore said.
