Make Peace or Die: Honor The Fallen

Anthony Marquez achieved his boyhood dream of becoming a Marine, following in the footsteps of his uncle. In 2011, Anthony was deployed to Sangin, Afghanistan, where his unit, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, ultimately lost 17 Marines. He was haunted by their deaths and returned home to the United States with a desire to honor them. He decided to carve a battlefield cross for each of these Gold Star families, a designation given to those whose relatives died while serving in a time of conflict. From 2016 to 2019, he hand-delivered all 17 crosses. 　　Anthony’s goal was complete, but his work was not yet over. In 2021, the 10-year anniversary of his unit’s deployment, Anthony set out in an RV with his filmmaker brother to revisit all of the families. They wanted to offer each family a way of memorializing and telling the world about their loved ones. Along the way, Anthony reconnected with other Marines who had also known the departed—the fallen members of a battalion whose motto remains “Make Peace or Die.” This journey to tell the stories of the fallen helped not only the families, but also Anthony on his own path to healing.