was memorialized Saturday afternoon in front of the .
Corral, a former grad nicknamed "Chachi," died Nov. 18, 2011, during combat operations in Afghanistan. He was a machine gunner assigned to the 3rd Battalion. His personal awards include the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and Global War on Terrorism Medal.
The memorial is a battlefield cross, which is a pair of boots, a rifle, and a helmet.
Beneath a warming sun and buffeted by a gentle, flag-flapping breeze, retired Army Lt. John Corral told a few hundred onlookers outside the Danville Veteran's Memorial Building on Saturday how he tried to talk his grandson Joshua "Chachi" Corral out of enlisting in the Marines.
"When I asked him why he wanted to," said Corral, who served two tours in Vietnam, "he put me on the spot. He said, 'I want to be like you.'"
The Semper Fi Foundation, Town of Danville, and Corral family and friends presented the memorial on Saturday to a few hundred people.
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