Marine Sgt. Juan Calderon Jr.

WESLACO, Texas — The letter from Sgt. Juan Calderon Jr. reached his father two days before military officials came to the faded clapboard house to tell him the 26-year-old Marine had died in Iraq.

In the letter that arrived Saturday, Calderon complained only of the 130-degree heat, which made South Texas seem balmy.

“He told me he loved me very much, not to worry, he would be home soon,” said Juan Calderon Sr., sitting on his porch next to pictures of his son and a framed letter saying he had made sergeant.

Defense Department officials said Calderon died Monday in a military hospital after conducting “security and stability” operations in Anbar province, a volatile, Sunni-dominated region west of Baghdad that includes Fallujah, Ramadi and Qaim on the Syrian border. Another Marine died later of wounds from the same action.

Calderon was with the 1st Battalian, 5th Marine Regiment. He was deployed about a month ago from Camp Pendleton, Calif., where he lived with his wife, Ana. The couple were expecting their first child next month.

He is believed to be the 79th soldier from Texas killed in Iraq.

One of five children, Calderon was a senior in high school when he told his family he wanted to be a Marine.

“He was so proud of his country,” his father said. Calderon enlisted after graduating from high school in 1997 and was promoted to sergeant in the summer of 2002.

About five weeks ago, he called his father to tell him he was being deployed in Iraq.

“I didn’t want him to go, but what else can I do?” the elder Calderon said.

The pictures of his son had been displayed on top of an old radio on the small cement patio. One showed him in officer’s dress, another at his wedding, still another was a father-son portrait from 1978, when the younger Calderon was born.

“He was a very good son,” the 59-year-old said. “He played a lot of sports, especially football and basketball. He was a real good fan of the Dallas Cowboys.”

Three months ago, he had sent his father a round-trip ticket to California, so the elder Calderon could visit him at Camp Pendleton.

He was a loving young man who frequently hugged his father and filled his letters with reminders of his love, Calderon said.

A 34-year-old brother had moved to West Texas, and Calderon’s mother and three sisters now live in Minnesota.

“Knowing his profession, something like this was always in the back of our minds, but we never really expected it,” said his sister, Linda Calderon. “You never really think it will happen to you, to your family.”

“Juan was a good brother and a good son,” she said. “He was a good husband and I know he would have been a good father. We love him and he will be missed. We know that he is with God.”