Daniel Martin Caballero, 21
Houston, Texas

Navy Electronics Technician Third Class Daniel Martin Caballero, is among the 190 missing and presumed dead from the September 11^th terrorist attack on the Pentagon.

The 21 year-old Danny, loved good food, pool, bowling, working out and long talks with friends. “He would talk your ears off if you let him. He could talk nonstop,” his mother said with a laugh, adding that he inherited the trait from her. “He was very brave. He was a wonderful, good-looking guy.” She said her son, 5’6”, spent long hours building his muscles. “I think, and a lot of young ladies think, he had a very handsome face,” said Mrs. Caballero, who works in a cardiologist’s office. “They used to tell me when he was a little boy he had bedroom eyes. No one tells me that anymore, but he still had them.”

His father, Andres Caballero, 53, works as an auto-body technician. Mr. Caballero has two sisters, Andrea Caballero, 25 and Claudia Caballero, 20. Mr. Caballero and his baby sister are only 10.5 months apart. “When they were little, they couldn’t be without each other,” Mrs. Cabellero said. “When they got older, they had their brother-sister fights, but they were still close.”

Danny, a 1998 graduate of Stephen F. Austin High School, joined the Navy “at the last minute,” Claudia Caballero said. “He liked it,” his mother said. “He liked what he was told. They didn’t sugarcoat it. They told him it was hard, so he joined.”

He had enlisted for six years and wanted to become an engineer after the service. Mr. Cabellero was “very dedicated to what he had chosen to do,” Mrs. Caballero said, choking back tears. Mr. Caballero, who helped upgrade technology at the Pentagon, was awarded an achievement medal last November. He gave his mother a picture, telling her: “You see this medal? I have that on my chest.”