East Aurora Native, Marine Veteran Medina To Be Honored This Weekend

AURORA, IL — A Aurora native and Marine Corps veteran will be honored this weekend as part of the city’s Memorial Day observances, city officials announced on Thursday.

Marine Corps Corporal Sara Medina died in action in 2015 at the age of 23 while serving on a humanitarian aid relief mission in central Nepal. A combat photographer, Medina enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2010, shortly after graduating from East Aurora High School.

Before deploying to Nepal, she had photographed Marines in South Korea, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, and the U.S., village officials said.

After an earthquake struck Nepal, the U.S. military deployed a Joint Humanitarian Assistance Team. On the afternoon of May 12, 2015, however, the helicopter transporting two Nepali soldiers and six U.S. Marines crashed eight miles north of Charikot, Nepal, killing all on board, including Medina.

"She was the best daughter, the best sister, and the best friend," said Medina's mother, Cecilia Lopez Leyva, said in a statement released by the city.

On Sunday, Medina’s friends and family will gather near her childhood home for a street dedication ceremony at 1 p.m. The ceremony will take place in the 1600 block of Liberty Street on Aurora’s east side.

During the 2021 Aurora Memorial Day Ceremony, a proclamation was presented to designate November 27, Medina’s birthday, as Sara Medina Day in Aurora. In addition, at the 2021 Aurora Veterans Day Ceremony, Medina was posthumously honored as part of the historic all-female Grand Marshals unit, highlighting the service of female veterans, the village said.

Her mother participated in her honor.

“She was such a special girl who loved her community and her country,” Lopez Leyva said.