DELAWARE--A community shows their outpour of support for the family of a soldier from Sussex County, who tragically died Monday after participating in a training exercise in Washington State.
Private First Class Joseph A. Marquez, most typically known as 'Joey' among friends and family, would have turned 20 years old in June. His mother Kristen Giordano said he always had the brightest smile on his face and lit up every room he walked into. The knock on the door to deliver the news was shocking for the mother who said she had just spoken to her son the night before the accident.
"My fiancé and I had just had dinner, my daughter was at work and I actually had gone on a walk around our neighborhood and I was talking on the phone to my mother, and then I came home and we were just deciding what we were going to watch, or what we were going to do for the night and then we, you know, the two officers came," she said.
According to the Army, Pfc. Marquez died Monday in what was described as a "single-vehicle incident' during a training exercise at the Yakima Training Center in central Washington State. Giordano said her son had been training there since June 2021. The family had last seen him physically when he traveled to Dover and stayed with them for 10 days in October. Giordano said she will forever be proud to be 'Joey's mom.'
"Joey received a lot of love and gave it back and the love that he gave me in the 19 years is unmatched," she said with tears in her eyes. "And I'm very, very, very grateful to be forever 'Joey's mom' and that's who I'm going to be."
Friends and family took to Facebook this week to express their condolences and share their beloved memories with Marquez. Even Sen. Tom Carper made a post saying in part, "the phone call home is the nightmare of every parent whose child answers the call to serve but Pfc. Marquez chose to serve nonetheless. All of Delaware mourns his loss."
Giordano said Gov. John Carney and Sen. Chris Coons also expressed their sincere condolences.
Marquez's former summer coach Eric Buckson told WRDE News he got a call from the Delaware Technical Community College baseball coach--back in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic-- to ask if the teen could play competitive ball one last time before going on to join the service.
Buckson said Marquez truly was more than a team player.
"The tragic end to this is something I don't have good words for but I do have that good story to say: that's a young man who's made a decision, he's going to go serve his country, that's his passion but before he does that he wants one more shot at the passion he's going to leave behind and that's playing competitive baseball," he said.
His older sister Alexis Marquez, 21, said they were like two peas in a pod, he was her best friend. To her, he was the 'golden boy' who made everyone proud.
"He was the person I called when I didn't know what decision to make, he always knew right from wrong and I live more in the grey area, and he didn't, he knew black from white like, he was an amazing person, 'the golden boy,' 'the American Dream," she said. "Both our parents weren't born here, my mom was born in Turkey, her dad was deployed when she was born and my dad's from Mexico, so he's like a first-generation completely; which is awesome because he worked at like a little diner, he played every sport, he went to the army, like he is the 'American Dream.'
The accident is still under investigation. Until then, they won't know when Pfc. Marquez's body will come back home for a funeral. The family said they plan to have a small, intimate gathering and another larger, public service for those who want to attend and say their last goodbyes.