Nelson M. Lantigua was the only child of a single mother who gave birth to him when she was 13 years old in Santiago, Dominican Republic His mother, Maria Lantigua, struggled for years to bring her son to the United States. She finally succeeded in time for him to attend high school. Aunts, uncles and his grandmother stepped in to fill the familial gap in the United States, cooperatively raising Lantigua. "Here, he learned to differentiate the good path from the wrong path. He grew as a person," Rafael Lugo said of his son-in-law.


Lantigua, 20, of Miami, died March 31 of wounds suffered from a non-combat incident in Anbar province. He was assigned to Camp Lejeune. After spending a few years in the United States, Lantigua longed to return to the Dominican Republic and raise a family. But first he followed the example of his older cousin, Francisco Arturo Santos, who had joined the Marines. The family disapproved of his decision but relented when he told them he felt a need to serve his adoptive country. He also is survived by his wife, Rossana.