May 24, 2007
Hitting Close to Home
He's from the next city over, so it's been taken hard around here. What's not mentioned is that he was tortured before they killed him. So young.....
Article here:
Boyhood friend remembers Torrance soldier
By Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writer
12:27 PM PDT, May 24, 2007
At 11 o'clock this morning, Richard Geraldo, 19, of Torrance added two candles to a memorial to his childhood friend Joe Anzack, which was created around midnight on the steps of the main entrance to South High School in Torrance.
"I set some candles down with a vow: 'I'm sorry I couldn't be there, Joe, but I'll make it up to you by going over there and doing your job,' " Geraldo said, referring to Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., the Army gunner found dead Wednesday in Iraq.
Geraldo, who was recently discharged from the Marine Corps because of a medical problem, said he was working with a recruiter to get back into the service as soon as possible.
"I'm trying to get back in. I'd go over there now if I could."
Like many of Anzack's childhood friends, Geraldo also endured false rumors a month ago that Anzack had died in action in Baghdad. And like them, he searched the Internet and studied news reports that eventually revealed it wasn't true.
Then reality struck with the news that Anzack had gone missing.
As recently as a few days ago, "I didn't think Joe would make it, but I hoped for a miracle," Geraldo said.
On Wednesday about 5 p.m., not long after military officials had delivered the somber news to Anzack's family, Geraldo was told by a friend that Anzack's body had been found.
"I called a few people about it and learned it was true. But it didn't hit home until this morning," he said, when he was at a grocery store and saw a front-page newspaper article and photograph.
"The headlines hit me hard," he said.
Geraldo stared at the photo of Iraqis pulling Anzack's body out of the Euphrates River for about 10 minutes, stock-still on the sidewalk, he said. He played back memories of the times he and Anzack, as junior high buddies, played weekend war games in Geraldo's backyard.
He said they would sometimes dress in camouflage, devising attack strategies against imaginary enemies armed with paintball guns and BB guns. Usually the mock exercises culminated with "me and Joe wrestling and fighting on the lawn."
Geraldo said that he and Anzack parted ways in ninth grade but that "I joined the military for the same reasons he did -- to keep us free."
The memorial of American flags, dozens of candles and bouquets of flowers surrounds a sign that reads: "We love and miss you, Joe Anzack. You're our hero."
The memorial, about four miles west of the modest second-story apartment where the soldier's father, mother, relatives and friends have been grieving, "has become a central place for kids to congregate," said South High Principal Scott McDowell.
"This is a huge tragedy for the family and the kids who knew him," McDowell said. "Joe was a strong and quiet kid, and he had a tight circle of friends who played football and wrestled like he did."
Anzack graduated from the 2,300-student campus in 2005.
McDowell said the mood at the school was generally "very quiet, very reserved."
Until Wednesday, Anzack's father, Joseph Sr., expressed hope to the media for his son's safe recovery. A family friend said today that Anzack's parents were not ready to make a statement to the public.
louis.sahagun@latimes.com
Posted by Valkyre at May 24, 2007 11:01 PM