Honoring a fallen hero - The Rider Newspaper

During its meeting last Tuesday, the Edinburg City Council approved a resolution to name a police department facility after a fallen Marine.

The Derek Hernandez Police Training Facility is named in honor of the Marine lance corporal who was born and raised in Edinburg and planned to pursue a career in law enforcement. The summer after graduating from Edinburg High School in 2008, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps.

“He was a very young man full of faith,” Anita Reyna, Hernandez’s aunt told The Rider. Reyna said that Hernandez told her before he was deployed that he was going to “leave a mark” in his hometown.

After serving as a military policeman and infantryman for two years, Hernandez died on June 6, 2010, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, while supporting combat operations. He was 20 years old.

Mayor Richard Molina, a U.S. Army veteran, proposed that the building be named in honor of the fallen Marine after meeting the Hernandez family on several occasions, he told The Rider.

“They had always conveyed to me that because he was one of the last soldiers that had died in the line of battle, he didn’t have anything in his honor,” Molina said. “So, I knew it was very important to find something to name.”

“Hopefully, when we are long gone from here, Derek Hernandez’s name will always be remembered for his service,” Molina said during the meeting.

The City of Edinburg built a police training facility in 2017. After finding out that Hernandez aspired to be a law enforcement officer, Molina saw fit that the building would be named in his honor.

The original resolution was presented to Virginia Reyna, Hernandez’s mother.

The audience and councilmembers applauded as she received the resolution, accompanied by Hernandez’s sister, Erica Hernandez, aunts Anita Reyna and Eva Tamez and uncle Tony Reyna.

Hernandez’s favorite Bible verse was Isaiah 41:10:

“Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

“Before he left he told me, ‘Tía, this is my favorite verse,’” Anita Reyna told The Rider.