Orange branch is now the Specialist Trevor A. Win’E Post Office in honor of fallen soldier
Debi Win’E will never forget her son, Trevor Anthony Win’E, an Army specialist killed in Iraq in 2004. But, she was afraid others would.
On Wednesday, April 24, a post office in Orange was renamed as the “Specialist Trevor A. Win’E Post Office,” becoming another reminder of Trevor Win’E and other soldiers who have given their lives serving the United States.
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“They will say it wrong. They will call him ‘wine.’ They will call him ‘winae.’ They will call him all kinds of crazy things,” Debi Win’E, an Orange resident, said to laughter at the dedication ceremony held Wednesday. Their last name is pronounced Win-A.
“But it’s not just Trevor’s name who’s being said,” she said. “It’s all of you sweet Gold Star moms; he will represent your child.”
Trevor Win’E, who graduated from Calvary Chapel High School in Santa Ana and attended Concordia University Irvine, enlisted in the Army in May 2002.
He was assigned to South Korea, but he asked to be deployed to Iraq to serve with his unit, the 24th Quartermaster Company. In April 2004, he was a turret gunner on the lead truck of a convoy when he was injured by an improvised explosive device detonating. He died a day later at age 22.
More than 14 years later, in December 2018, President Donald Trump signed Rep. Lou Correa’s (D-Santa Ana) bill to rename the post office in Trevor Win’E’s honor.
More than a hundred, including dozens of veterans and their families, attended the ceremony on the loading dock of the post office branch at 1075 N. Tustin St.
For many, the ceremony was a celebration of Win’E’s life.
“He was always ready to go. He always had a smile and was always willing to get up there,” said Steve Agee, a veteran who served in Iraq with Win’E’. “He gave his life for each and every one of us.”
The post office’s new name will inspire kids visiting the building a decade or two from now to learn more about Win’E’s life, Agee said.
But the ceremony was also a painful reminder of “the price of freedom” the country, its soldiers and their families have paid, Correa said. “These are kids who grew up in our neighborhood, played baseball in our high school.
During the ceremony, JROTC students from Orange High read off the names of 57 soldiers from Orange County who have died serving their country since Sept. 11, 2001.
“We will never forget,” Correa said. “Everyday, we will celebrate the sacrifice families have made. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the American thing to do.”