Since September 11, 2001, thousands of members, 36,920 to be exact, have become naturalized citizens and 109 of those valiant men and women sacrificed their lives to become Americans.  Their citizenship, sadly, was granted posthumously after being killed in combat.  Since the Revolutionary War, this nation has been blessed with immigrants coming to the aid of their future countrymen, men joining the fight for freedom and liberty for a nation in which they had not been formally granted the rights of a citizen.  Today, there are 20, 429 members of the U.S. military who are not naturalized citizens and over 7,000 have pending citizenship applications.  James Pinkerton writes for the Houston Chronicle:

There was a U.S. Army corporal from the Philippines who endured mortar attacks in Afghanistan. The immigrant from Mexico who earned a Purple Heart during two tours in Iraq with the Marines. A Navy medic from Nigeria training to treat Marines wounded in combat.

”Today’s a pretty special day for me,” said Jesus ”Jessie” Eduardo Martinez, the 30-year-old Marine veteran raised in Houston. “It’s a long road with a great culmination.”

On Wednesday, Martinez finally fulfilled his dream of becoming a U.S. citizen after waiting for almost four years since he applied. In that time, he received shrapnel wounds and suffers from hearing loss from a skirmish in the battle for Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2004.

He was one of a handful of service members among 2,708 immigrants from 112 countries who took the citizenship oath administered by U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston.

and the words of a new American:

One other new citizen at Wednesday’s ceremony was Anthony I. Ozoemena, a Houston resident who joined the U.S. Navy as a medic in January 2007.

The 31-year-old Nigerian native, who wants to become a registered nurse, looks forward to voting in this year’s presidential election.

He had not settled on a candidate, but said the three leading contenders offer opportunities for change.

”I would like to vote and express myself as a citizen of this country,” said Ozoemena.

God bless them all. They make it the land of the free and the home of the brave.