1st Sgt Jose San Nicolas Crisostomo
Born: August 29, 1949 in Guam
Died: August 18, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan
First Sgt Jose San Crisostomo of Spanaway, Washington left Inarajan, Guam after joining the Army in 1969. After basic training in California, he was sent to Vietnam. Over the next twenty four years, “Sinbad,” as he was called, was stationed all over the world including, Fort Benning, Georgia, Brussels, Belgium, St. Louis, Mississippi, Fort Lewis and Texas, Fort Devens in Massachusetts and Germany, where he was stationed for seven years before returning to Washington finally retiring in 1993. In April 2008, he was recalled to active duty. He trained at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, and then stopped at Fort Lewis in Texas before deploying to Kabul, Afghanistan, in June of 2008. He had been serving in the United States Army for 40 years and had been deployed in Afghanistan since June 2008. Joe was a proud Chamorro and the president of a Chamorro group in Washington State. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Leon Guerrero Crisostomo. Joe helped found Grupun Minagof, a group of Chamorro Americans who organize fiestas and other happenings in the local community. The group also raises money to help if someone in the local community loses a family member and provides scholarships for Chamorro youth. He served most of the last decade as its president. Even when he was in Afghanistan, he’d phone into the monthly meetings in Spanaway to say hello to group members and help plan the next fiesta or golf tournament. The group was planning to throw a big, 60th-birthday bash for Crisostomo when he returned, complete with Chamorro food and cold beer. He was also a good neighbor and a friend to many. He was a handyman who could do everything from electricity to plumbing to building you a patio. He never hesitated to use those skills when someone was in need. During a winter snowstorm, Joe’s neighbor’s water heater was leaking. In spite of rough driving conditions he drove his own vehicle to the Home Depot, loaded a new heater, and helped to install in that same day.
Army
International Security Assistance Force
Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan.
Burial is at Fir Lane Memorial Park in Spanaway, Washington
The 1st Sgt Jose San Nicolas Crisostomo by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
