Marine Corps Lance Corporal Eliseo Felix Jr

Marine Corps Lance Corporal Eliseo C. Felix Jr., 19, of Avondale, AZ, served as an artilleryman with Battery S, 5th Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment. LCpl Felix was killed by friendly fire on February 2, 1991, near the Saudi Arabia–Kuwait border. His unit was traveling in a convoy after completing a raid when allied aircraft mistook it for an enemy formation and attacked it with cluster bombs.

LCpl Felix was born in Phoenix and raised in Avondale. He attended Agua Fria High School where he excelled academically, played baseball and served at St. John Vianney Catholic Church as an altar server. He graduated in 1989 and enlisted in the Marine Corps so the GI Bill could help pay for his future education without burdening his mother. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.

Before being deployed to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Storm in August 1990, Elisio proposed to the love of his life, Monica. The young couple planned to marry upon his return. In an official school dedication ceremony on November 8, 2005, Pioneer Elementary School in Avondale was renamed Eliseo C. Félix School.

LCpl Felix was survived by his parents and two sisters.