The family trumpet was handed from sibling to sibling, and landed in Erik H. Silva's nimble fingers about the same time he joined the marching band at Holtville High School.
His talent was obvious and his leadership true, the school's music teacher said yesterday, explaining why he selected his 22-year-old former student as the band's drum major in the late 1990s.
"He was an outstanding young man – polite, courteous, a leader, and always prepared," said Lendal Macon, who remembered Silva. "He followed in the footsteps of his brothers, his sister – they all played the trumpet."
Silva, the youngest of four children – three of whom serve or have served in the U.S. military – was killed Thursday in an ambush in Iraq, officials at Camp Pendleton confirmed.
Marine Corps officials listed Silva's hometown as Chula Vista, apparently because his mother, Gloria Hernandez Silva, moved to the area about 18 months ago.
Details about Silva's death remained sketchy yesterday. The military rarely comments on how troops are killed, and family members were only told about an ambush.
"He was shot in the abdomen," said Silva's uncle, Sergio Hernandez. "The whole family is going through a rough time right now."
News of the killing stunned and saddened the community of Holtville, a farm town just east of El Centro. Silva was the subject of the weekly sermon Sunday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
Silva joined the Marine Corps in 1999, a few months after he finished high school. He was a security guard at a U.S. base in Iceland before being sent to the Middle East.
The infantry rifleman had been assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, since September 2001.
– By Jeff McDonald
