Lance Cpl. Derek Hernandez

Lance Cpl. Derek Hernandez, 20, of Edinburg, Texas.  while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan Cpl Hernandez was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

From the precise neatness of the canvas belts and camouflage caps on the walls to the giant map of Afghanistan and the “Oorah!!” scrawled on a marker board, Lance Cpl. Derek Hernandez's bedroom breathes U.S. Marine. A circle on that map now shows where he died Saturday. Hernandez, 20, was one of three Marines killed in a convoy traveling through Helmand Province. The news came Sunday afternoon, said Tony Reyna, Hernandez's godfather and one of his many uncles. Details of the incident were unclear, but Hernandez's body was expected to reach the United States today. “We're all very close and that's why it hurts us so much,” Reyna said. “His whole thing was to make (his mother) proud and she was. He didn't have to do this.” An American flag hung from the doorway to the home Monday, flapping in a sudden rain squall. The doorbell rang every few minutes with family, friends, and church members offering prayer and support. Photos of Hernandez — in military dress, as a safety with the Edinburg High School football team, at his boot camp graduation — lined a low table in the living room. State Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, mourned the death in his blog, the city's fifth such loss to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Students at the high school were at work planning a service in Hernandez's memory. The youngest of three children, Hernandez knew since childhood he wanted to be a Marine, family members said, and after graduating high school in 2008 never looked back. “He wanted to serve his country. He was glad doing it,” Reyna said. He was on his first overseas deployment. It was supposed to be a short stint, and there were only a few weeks left.