(Photo by Casey Kuhn - KJZZ)

José Jiménez, Medal of Honor recipient.

There are 3,515 medal of honor recipients, the United States’ highest military honor, but only a few hundred are not American citizens. Now, a Mexican born marine killed in combat has been laid to rest Tuesday in Arizona.

José Jiménez, known as Pancho or JoJo to his friends, was born in Mexico before moving to Eloy to be with his mother. He enlisted after graduating high school and served in Vietnam.

According to the Medal of Honor citation, in 1969, after an attack by the North Vietnamese Army, Jimenez plunged forward under heavy fire, destroyed several Vietnamese positions and silenced an anti-aircraft weapon before being mortally wounded. He received the Medal of Honor posthumously.

His remains were sent to his hometown in Mexico, per his mother’s request.   

His sister, Maria Jiménez, wanted to have him laid to rest in the Glendale Memorial Cemetery, where his mother is buried.

“It’s overwhelming. I didn’t think it was going to be this grand, to me it was just a simple thing, I was just going to bring him, set him with my mom, and that was it," Maria Jiménez said.

After a 21-gun salute, military flyover and mariachi music, Jiménez’s remains were buried next to his mother's.

After hearing about Jiménez, Steven Weintraub, a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, said he wanted to make sure the Marine was honored.

“Mexico was not supportive of the Vietnam War and so Mexican nationals that joined the military like JoJo did, were referred to as mercenaries,” Weintraub said.

For his sister, the support from Weintraub and others made the day unforgettable.  

“Everybody made this possible, and I’m grateful for everybody,” Maria Jiménez said.