He certainly should be given citizenship.
Posted on 04/19/2003 7:22:58 AM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
HIALEAH -- Marine Cpl. Armando González, the first South Floridian to die in the war with Iraq, did not have many blood relatives in the United States.
But for the dozens of people who gathered at a backyard Mass in his honor Wednesday, he was an adopted son or brother.
Many of the 50 or so people also have loved ones overseas who they have not seen or even heard from for months. They reached out to González's family after hearing that the 25-year-old Marine died when a commercial refueling truck he was working on collapsed on him Monday.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
On Wednesday, mourners affectionately referred to Armando González, who died Monday in southern Iraq, as the first Cuban rafter to die during the war with Iraq. González, his father and his brother hopped a raft to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo in September 1994. They came to the United States in February 1995.
González later studied English at Miami-Dade Community College and worked as a roofer before joining the Marines about four years ago. Family members said he was proud to serve his adopted country and hoped to become a U.S. citizen.
Having not served in the military (but having never been against our military) I feel ashamed I didn't serve when I read stories like this. Thanks for the post.
He certainly should be given citizenship.
BTTT!
"Though we became the soldier, we did not lay down the citizen."
-George Washington
Be Seeing You,
Chris
The Department of Defense also announced today that Cpl. Armando Ariel Gonzalez, 25, of Hileah, Fla., was killed April 14 in a non-hostile accident when a commercial refueler collapsed at Logistics Supply Area Viper in southern Iraq. Gonzalez was assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS)-273, Marine Wing Support Group (MWSG)-27, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C.
Hialeah Marine is killed in Iraq accident
BY MICHAEL VASQUEZ
mrvasquez@herald.com
Roughly eight years ago, Marine Cpl. Armando Ariel Gonzalez left Cuba on a boat bound for Miami, joined by his father and younger brother. The family settled in Hialeah.
Gonzalez learned to speak English in classes at Miami-Dade Community College, joined the Marines and married his love.
Two and a half months ago, he shipped out to Iraq, leaving behind his pregnant wife.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Defense Department reported that Gonzalez, 25, was killed. He is the first Miami-Dade resident known to have died in the conflict.
Gonzalez died Monday after being crushed by a commercial refueling truck as he worked beneath it at Logistics Supply Area Viper in southern Iraq, according to defense officials.
Capt. Don Caetano, spokesman for the Marine Corps Air Station at Beaufort, S.C., where Gonzalez was based, said the death shows the dangers troops still face in the region, despite the military successes.
The death was the first suffered by the Beaufort base, which has about 1,800 soldiers in the region, Caetano said.
''It's one of our brothers, one of our brothers-in-arms died,'' Caetano said. ``And that's real tough to handle.''
Gonzalez got married about seven months ago, according to his father, Julio Orlando Gonzalez, 69, of Hialeah. Armando Gonzalez's wife is four months pregnant, his father said. The family is unsure yet whether it is a boy or girl.
''I am very proud of my son; I am very proud of the cause he died for,'' Julio Gonzalez said during a tearful phone interview Tuesday night.
Armando Gonzalez had been a Marine for about 2 ½ years. A few hours before his death, Gonzalez talked to his wife from Iraq, his father said.
As usual, he was calm, composed, fearless.
''He said that he felt good,'' Julio Gonzalez said. ``Everything was going good.''
In Cuba, Armando Gonzalez had contemplated being a doctor. But his father, who works as a security guard, said it would have been financially difficult to pursue such a career in the United States.
''I didn't have the means to pay for him to study medicine,'' Julio Gonzalez said. Armando Gonzalez's mother remained in Cuba after the rest of the family left, but she has been given permission to come to the United States, according to his father.
She is expected to arrive by this weekend.
An opportunity to leave a message at this memorial site.
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