MISSION - The public will be able to pay ther respects to Staff Sergant Bradley Espinoza. There will be a viewing Wednesday morning at 9am at Rivera Funeral home on N. Conway in Mission.
Sergant Espinoza died in Iraq october 19th when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. His body arrived in the valley earlier today.
A Mission man who wanted to do something special for Espinoza's homecoming. He's a mission police officer who also runs a tree and lawn business. He spent the morning clearing the way to welcome the valley's latest fallen hero.
We met Sam Segura at Rivera Funeral Home in Mission clearing piles of palm fronds. Another worker was climbing and trimming the trees. The two man team worked for 6 hours making sure the grounds were in order, fit to receive a hero. They finished just in time.
Segura says, "Of course we had to do some cleaning up before they arrived and as we were leaving I did see the procession arrive."
We caught up with Segura at his home. He tells us he asked the funeral home owner if he could trim the trees free of charge. It was his way of honoring fallen soldier Bradley Espinoza. Segura holds a special place in his heart for our servicemembers.
Segura says, "The reason I did it, ma'am, is because I have a daughter that's in Afghanistan. She's on her second tour." 21 year old Jena Segura, his daughter, his soldier is honored in thier garage. Segura knows the sacrifice of sending a loved one to war. Jena has already been to Iraq, made it home, now she's in afghanistan.
Segura prays she's home for good next year. It was jena that lead him to the funeral home. He left the trees trimmed and neat.
But this was more than landscaping. Segura says, "At the same time, I left my heart there for the family." It was a gift from one military family to another.
In all they trimmed 19 trees. Segura, who runs Trees and Lawns by Sam, says he's offered his services free of charge before, but this was the first time for a fallen soldier.
