It was a sunny, clear, mild day over the Mediterranean Sea on June 29, when Aerographer's Mate 2nd Class David Jasso raised the flag of the United States over USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in memory of his brother-in-law.

Army Staff Sgt. Octavio Herrara died while fighting in Afghanistan in 2013. Jasso wanted to honor Herrara's memory in some way, and he decided to fly a flag over GHWB during operation Inherent Resolve in honor of the fallen Soldier.

"I wanted to do something nice for my wife," said Jasso. "Her brother got killed in action back in 2013. So I wanted to bring something back for her from this deployment. I work with CAG (Air Wing Commander), for the air wing. I asked CAG if I could fly a flag for my brother-in-law and he was happy to do it. He said it was an honor."

Jasso is assigned to Carrier Air wing 8 and works in GHWB's meteorology and oceanography (METOC) shop. Working in that position gave him relatively easy access to the people necessary to fly a flag in someone's honor.

"I'm temporarily assigned to the METOC shop, but I support the carrier air group," said Jasso. "I prepare strike forecasts for them whenever we're about to enter a country. It's nice to get to see CAG all the time, to get to know the pilots. They're super friendly. I've built a good relationship with some of them, we'll greet each other in the p-way. I didn't think they were going to let me raise it, so when they said I could, I was super happy to do it. I did it with a lot of honor, a lot of respect for my brother-in-law."

After flying the flag, Jasso had a certificate and a display box made to put the flag in to present to his wife upon returning from deployment.

"I was able to personally raise the flag over the Bush in honor of my brother-in law. That was nice of the quartermasters to let me do that."

Jasso added that while he did not know Herrara as well as he would have liked to, he wears a crucifix and memorial "dog tag" in Herrara's memory.

"He was gone a lot because he was in the Army, but I knew Staff Sgt. Herrara," said Jasso. "We mostly saw each other around the holidays. In terms of our relationship, we weren't as close as I would have liked, but my wife and mother-in-law said we had a lot in common. We both like games, we both like to build computers. He was really into Star Wars; I'm into Lord of the Rings."

Jasso explained how he plans to surprise his wife and present her with gift to honor her brother.

"My mother-in-law and brother-in-law know; they're actually the ones who sent me the flag to raise over the ship. They're really good at keeping secrets, so my wife won't find out until after deployment. But when we return to Norfolk, nobody will be waiting at the pier for me. I'll just go to the airport and fly back to Nevada, where I'm stationed out of, and my family will be waiting at the airport to pick me up. I have two new nieces I'll meet for the first time. It's less crowded and more personal, really."

Jasso added that he is there for anyone else who might be suffering loss or be dealing with similar family grief.

"If anybody else on the ship is going through this, I've been there. I've done the funeral, I've done a military funeral, I know it's not easy. If anybody needs help, I'm there for them. We can share emotions, share stories."

While Staff Sgt. Octavio Herrara may have made the ultimate sacrifice, service members like Jasso carry on the defense of Freedom both at home and abroad.

Though someone dies physically, we remember them always. In that way, heroes never die.

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