A memorial prayer service for Sgt. Juan Calderon Jr. will be held at 5:30 P.M. Thursday, Sept. 9. The service will be held at St. Theodore Catholic Church. There will be a visitation one half hour before the service.

Sgt. Juan Calderon Jr., age 26, of Weslaco, Texas, was killed on Aug. 2, 2004, in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq. He was a rifleman based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

He was born and raised in Weslaco and graduated in 1996 from Weslaco High School. Calderon was a member of the 3rd Battalion, First Marine Regiment, First Marine Division, First Marine Expeditionary Force.

He is the 913th U.S. serviceman killed since the beginning of operations in Iraq more than a year ago, and he is the eighth from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

He was born Feb. 15, 1978, to Juan Calderon Sr. and Maria Sanchez.

He is survived by his wife, Ana Maria Calderon of Oceanside, Calif.; father, Juan Calderon Sr. of Weslaco, Texas; mother, Maria Bernal of Alden; three brothers: Juan A. Sanchez of Muleshoe, Texas, and Jesus Bernal Jr. and Michael Bernal, both of Minnesota; four sisters: Gloria Calderon, Linda Calderon, Sabitas Calderon and Stephanie Isabel Bernal, all of Minnesota; and maternal grandparents: Pedro Sanchez of Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas,

Mexico, and Maria Martinez of Weslaco, Texas. Also surviving are numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.