Family Of El Paso Airman Killed In Combat Shares Story

Daniel Ray Sanchez’s mother Yvette Sierra-Duchene says she couldn’t be more proud of her son. “My son touched so many lives in so many ways,” she said in an interview with ABC-7 at her home on Sunday.

Sanchez was a Special Operations Command Controller for the U.S. Air Force. The El Paso native was killed in combat during a gunfight in Afghanistan Thursday. He was 23 years old.

“He died doing what he wanted to do. He gave of himself so that everybody here in this room could sleep soundly at night knowing that their freedom is safe,” said Sierra-Duchene.

Sanchez was assigned to the 23rd special tactics squadron out of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He’d been in Afghanistan since June.

Sanchez’s family says the Montwood High School graduate’s smile was contagious. “You had to meet him and in one second you would like him,” said his mother.

She said he joined the service because “he saw all the crazy things they get to do…jump out of planes, scuba dive.” His little brother, 10 year old DJ, said Sanchez liked coming up with pranks and practical jokes. The family laughed as they remembered his Will Ferrell impression.

Even during his phone calls home while he was in a war zone, Sanchez’s mother said her son kept a positive attitude. “I could hear him smiling over the phone,” she said.

Now those phone calls are precious memories.

“I have a voice mail saved, so I get to hear his voice every once in a while. I just play it over and over again. Hear the smile,” said Sierra-Duchene.