Obituary of Desiderio Fajardo

Desi was born July 15, 1946 in Santiago de Cuba, in 1961 with his younger brother Danilo left Cuba under the Peter Pan Program sponsored by the Catholic Church. Desi was educated at Colegio de Dolores Jesuit Prep School from 1950 to 1960. His first couple of years in US were in Miami where he attended Coral Gables HS, in 1963 the family moved to Portland to start a new life. After graduating from Cleveland HS Desi worked at Hyster a few years before entering the US Marine Corp. In 1967 he was deployed to VietNam where he spent 14 months as a brave and outstanding soldier, he was awarded two Bronze Stars with “V” for Valor and three Purple Hearts, he was also awarded many Meritorious Medals and with his company Delta-1-5 received 13 Presidential Citations. Because of his wounds he was sent to Japan for rehab and then Camp Pendleton. After returning from the war Desi worked at a couple of local manufacturers until he started with Cascade Ship Repairs, where he was a Project Manager until he had to retire due to disabilities from the war. Desi’s life was not the usual of a growing child, at the age of 14 with his brother Danilo left his country to escape communism, they were in a Peter Pan Foster Home for a few months until their mother was able to leave Cuba, in 1963 they were able to relocate to Portland to start a new life, his father was kept in Cuba until 1965 when he was able to escape and go to Spain and then USA. Desi had three sons, Michael (Mike), Mark and Desi, in 1997 his younger son Desi died in a car accident and five years later his son Dr. Mark A Fajardo died of natural death at the age of 34. The loss of his two sons was devastating, a couple of years later he became disable due to Agent Orange and had to retire. Desi’s life had many great moments, he was an avid skier both water and snow, during the summer he and his brother Daniel water ski almost every day, in the winter he was a Certified Ski Instructor of America, he loved to hunt, boating with his grandchildren and coaching Little League Baseball. About five years ago his health started to decline, he was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus which he was able to beat, then a couple of years later started having respiratory problems and about a year ago one of his lungs collapsed and he was with fibrosis of the lungs. Desi was a true warrior, very generous man, loving father, husband and grandfather. During his time in the war he was credited with saving the lives of many of his Brothers in Arms. Desi is survived by his wife Mary, son Mike, grandchildren Kevin, Patrick and Connor, his brothers Daniel and Danilo and his uncle Jorge Algeciras. To the end Desi fought the greatest battle of his life and at the end he went like the Brave Warrior he was. Go in peace Marine, Semper-Fi