DANVILLE — A bronze Battlefield Cross at the Danville Veterans Memorial Building will serve as a permanent reminder of the sacrifice made by Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua “Chachi” Corral and his fellow service members who paid the ultimate price in war.
Corral was killed Nov. 18 in Afghanistan, two months shy of his 20th birthday. He was the first Danville war death since James Cardinale was killed in Vietnam in 1968.
On June 23, the “Danville Fallen Hero Memorial” statue will be dedicated to Corral at the veterans building downtown. The statue is a bronze likeness of a helmet propped atop an inverted M-16 rifle standing between a pair of boots, called a Battlefield Cross.
A big crowd is expected, and East Prospect Avenue will be closed during the event. Several Marines will attend, including some who were on patrol with Corral when he was killed. Corral’s company commander, Capt. David Russell, will be there, as will the parents of Marine Cpl. Zachary Reiff, who was killed by the same blast that took Corral’s life. Reiff’s parents are flying in from Iowa.
The dedication will be followed by a community celebration at the Danville Community Center, where there will be food, live music and family activities.
“We’re doing this as a ‘thank you’ to the public who helped us purchase the memorial in the first place,” Corral’s mother, Denise Corral, said.
“For us, it’s very personal since it’s in memory of our son,” she said of the statue. “But probably more than anything it is to keep in the forefront of people’s minds that we still have troops over there that are dying every single day.”
Joshua “Chachi” Corral was born and raised in Danville. He got his nickname from the way his older brother mispronounced Joshy when they were toddlers. Friends and family described Corral as having a large circle of friends and as being an athletic kid who excelled at soccer and baseball.
Corral joined the Marines in 2010 shortly after graduating from San Ramon Valley High School. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment out of Twentynine Palms and was deployed to Afghanistan.
On Nov. 18, his squad was on a patrol in Helmand Province sweeping for improvised explosive devices. Corral was on point when he was hit by a blast and killed. Reiff was severely injured and died three days later in Germany.
Corral had been in the Marine Corps 488 days, and was in Afghanistan just 73 days.
The week before his death, he called his parents and told them that his unit was facing a tough and dangerous fight, Denise Corral said. He told them in the event that he did not make it home, to take care of his fellow Marines.
In December, the father of one of Chachi’s best friends, Len Hack, with the Corral family and friends, began raising money for a memorial. They raised about $10,000 through sweatshirt and T-shirt sales and private donations, and commissioned sculptor Richard Rist to make the statue.
Their fundraising efforts were so successful that they formed the Semper Fi Foundation to fulfill Corral’s last request. The foundation now supports severely wounded Marines and their families.
The foundation’s first recipients were two Marines recovering from double amputations at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The Marines requested an iPad, a MacBook laptop, software and other items, which the foundation has provided.
For more information or to donate to the foundation, visit www.semperfifoundation.com.
Contact Jason Sweeney at 925-847-2123. Follow him at Twitter.com/Jason_Sweeney.
Memorial dedication
Where: Danville Veteran’s Memorial Building, 400 Hartz Ave.
When: 10 a.m. June 23
A community event in celebration of Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua “Chachi” Corral will be held at 11 a.m. in the Danville Community Center, 420 Front St., where there will be food, live music and family activities.
For more information or to sponsor the Semper Fi Foundation, visit www.semperfifoundation.com.
