Bobby Mejia II
Specialist, United States Army National Guard
July 14, 1986 – December 23, 2006
Age – 20
Saginaw, MI
1st Battalion, 125th Infantry, Big Rapids, MI
Died of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near the vehicle in Salman Park, Iraq
Specialist Mejia and others in the 125th Infantry were moving through Salman Pak, Iraq, when, all of a sudden, its soldiers noticed two Iraqi police vehicles they were traveling with had disappeared. Immediately, mortars started raining from the sky. Bobby died of wounds sustained in the attack.
Spc. Bobby Mejia II, Saginaw, Michigan was a 2004 Saginaw High School graduate. Bobby loved the classics, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the Road Runner. He hoped to take that joy of art and turn it into a career. His dream was to be an artist and always wanted to work for the Walt Disney Company, anything to do with cartoons and animation. Bobby was a lifelong resident of Saginaw.
He attended First Baptist Church of Bridgeport and was employed with the 125th Infantry Battalion of the National Guard.
He was remembered by his sister with the following memorial.
January 2, 2009
I just want to thank everyone that has signed my big brother’s guestbook. I cannot explain how much i appreciate all of you guys. Thank you so much for showing the support, and not a day goes by that i don’t think of all of the soldiers who are still fighting in the middle east, and those who gave all (like my brother). It was really hard to get through these couple of years, but I know that he would want me to stay strong. It’s crazy how it seems as if Dec. 23rd was yesterday. I can remember everything that happened that day. In fact, I was the one who answered the door. I had a bad feeling that day, and i had a flashback when I saw the two soldiers standing at my door. I actually had a dream two weeks before it happened. I dreamed that I was in school and I was crying while standing in the lunch line. I remember someone asking me what was wrong, and I told the person that my little brother died! I woke up out of the dream and I was terrified everyday. I was hoping that my big brother would call, because I knew it couldn’t be my little brother. I felt that It was my big brother because he was in more danger, and he was in the war. I started to cry because I felt something bad was going to happen. Then, weeks went by and it was Dec. 21st, it was the night of my band concert, and I had the strangest feeling. I didn’t know why but I felt like my big brother was in danger. There was no way for me to contact him. (I found out after Dec. 23rd, that my brother tried to call, but he couldn’t get through, and there were bad connections, in Iraq). He wanted to wish us a Merry Christmas, and let us know that he’ll be home IN 10 DAYS! I was so upset because he was so close to coming home, and I told everyone that my brother was coming home for new years. Well he came home, but not the way I expected it. Even though I was deeply hurt I was still proud of him. He’s not a hero because he was in the Army, or because he was my big brother, but because he was my role model. We we’re really close and we told each other everything. We were so close that we could tell if each other was in danger. HE’S MY HERO AND I LOVE MY BIG BROTHER (X) SOOO MUCH! HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN INSPIRATION TO ME, THERE WERE MANY NIGHTS WHERE I USE TO WATCH HIM DRAW (BY THE WAY HE WANTED TO BE AN ANIMATOR….FOR JAPANESE ANIME…NOT AN ILLUSTRATOR) and well he would encourage me to find my talent. It turned out that I can really draw (not as good as him) but i could! We would always have fun together, along with our little brother. (We were always there for each other).
My mom, little brother, and I were the only ones there for Bobby, and we’ve learned to live with that. =] It’ll always be our little quartet (forever).
Chrystal Hernandez(Mejia)