Another Chamorro Killed in the War on Terror

Another casualty from Guam
Friday, 21 August 2009
by Therese Hart | Variety News Staff

FIRST Sgt. Joe San Nicolas Crisostomo, formerly of Inarajan, was killed Aug. 18—11 days before his 59th birthday—while deployed in Afghanistan.
FIRST Sgt. Joe San Nicolas Crisostomo. Photo courtesy by chamorro roots

Of the familian “Sinbad,” Crisostomo’s death added to the growing list of servicemen and women killed in the war-ravaged nation as U.S. military officials get set to mark August as the deadliest month for American forces since the war began.

Crisostomo, who has been living on the U.S. mainland in recent years, left his native home after joining the Army in 1969 and served in the U.S. Army for 40 years. He was in the war-torn country since June 2008.

Crisostomo was the president of a Chamorro club in Washington. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Leon Guerrero Crisostomo.

No details have been released from the Department of Defense yet on the circumstances leading to the dedicated soldier’s death, but violence in Afghanistan is at an all-time high as the resurgent Taliban fighters have ramped up attacks as the country prepared for its second presidential vote since ousting the Islamic extremist group from power eight years ago.

Mass will start tonight night at the San Miguel Church in Talofofo at 7 p.m. for the next nine days or Aug. 29, which would have been Crisostomo’s 59th birthday.