In honor of Veterans Day, Eagle Valley High School remembers one of its own who sacrificed his life in the U.S. Marine Corps

August 2025 marked 20 years since Eagle Valley High School alumnus Evenor Herrera died while serving the United States as a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps First Battalion, Fifth Marines. Wednesday, the day after Veterans’ Day, the school honored Herrera’s legacy with an assembly.

Bal Herrera, Evenor Herrera’s brother, Marine Corps veteran and detective sergeant with the Avon Police Department, spoke at the assembly about his brother and serving the country.

“Walking this campus brings back memories, not only from my own 2002 graduation, but from the footsteps of my brother, Lance Corporal Evenor Herrera, who graduated from Eagle Valley High School just one year before me, in 2001,” Bal Herrera said.

“It is an honor to stand here in the place that raised us and speak my brother’s name,” Bal Herrera said. “May we continue to remember him and all those who served by living lives worthy of their sacrifice.”

Evenor Herrera’s story

Bal and Evenor Herrera were born in Honduras and moved to Eagle River Valley in 1993. 

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“This community shaped us. These mountains, these classrooms, these hallways all helped build a foundation for the lives we chose to serve,” Bal Herrera said.

Growing up in Eagle County, Evenor Herrera was an avid outdoorsman, spending his time fishing, camping and snowboarding. A year after graduating from Eagle Valley High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2002 and became a machine gunner in First Battalion, Fifth Marines, whose motto is “make peace or die.”

He completed two tours in Iraq, participated in 175 combat missions and survived four improvised explosive devices (IEDs) striking his vehicle. 

On Aug. 10, 2005, while working to destroy an enemy improvised explosive device in order to safeguard a main supply route, Evenor Herrera was mortally wounded and died. He was 22.

“To his Marines, he was a quiet professional, with fierce skill. To us, his family, he was the glue that held us together, always bringing laughter, always creating memories, and always leading with his heart,” Bal Herrera said. “His sacrifice remains a reminder of the cost of service and the meaning of duty.”

Assembly highlights importance of service

Veterans Day acknowledges and celebrates the service of all who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, living and deceased. 

The number of Americans who volunteer to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces has dropped significantly over the last half century. In 1980, approximately 18% of U.S. adults were veterans, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. As of 2022, that portion had dropped to 6%.

“A veteran … is someone who at one point in their life wrote a blank check to the United States of America for an amount up to and including their life,” Bal Herrera said.

Less than 1% of all U.S. adults are active-duty service members.

“Patriotism is a belief that this nation is imperfect, evolving, and always striving forward. It is worth protecting, and it lives in schools like this one, in families like ours, and in stories like Evenor’s and mine,” Bal Herrera said.

9% of current veterans identify as Hispanic.

“I am thankful every day for the opportunities that this country has given me, from arriving here as an immigrant kid to graduating from Eagle Valley High School to serving honorably as a Marine and now serving as a detective sergeant for the Avon Police Department,” Bal Herrera said. “This is my American dream, and it was made possible by the freedom safeguarded by men and women like my brother.”

“Take pride in who you are, take pride in where you come from and take pride in being an American,” Bal Herrera said. “Whether you do it through service, leadership, community involvement or pursuing your goals with integrity, each of us can strengthen this nation.”

Alex Buck, an Eagle Valley High School teacher and veteran, spoke about the meaning of military service, asking students whether they were prepared to answer a call to service if it came. 

“I think it’s also important to remember that every generation, we are called upon,” Buck said. “Will you answer it with the same fervent patriotism as all of us who have volunteered to do so?”

“I do sincerely hope that if the call does come, that you answer it as well, because it is the greatest honor that I have ever had in my entire life, and it is something that I would absolutely do again,” Buck said.