Veterans Day: Tracy family of a fallen Marine gifted mortgage-free home
TRACY -- The family of a fallen Marine has been gifted a mortgage-free home on Veterans Day.
USMC Lance Corporal Aaron Robert Boyles enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2003, around the same time he began working at Wal-Mart, which is where he met his future wife, Prabha. They later got married on Jul. 4, 2003.
Seven months later, Boyles was deployed to Iraq on Feb. 4, 2004, where he was wounded after a few months into his deployment. He turned down the chance to return home for recovery and instead chose to stay with his fellow Marines.
Boyles was scheduled to finally return home on Sep. 22, 2004, just two days before the birth of his son, but he never made it back.
On Sep. 24, 2004, USMC Lance Corporal Aaron Robert Boyles was killed by enemy fire in the Anbar Province of Iraq. He was later awarded two Purple Hearts.
The Tunnel to Towers Gold Star Family Home Program honors the legacy of fallen military members by paying off the mortgage or providing a surviving spouse with young children with a mortgage-free home.