Eric U. Ramirez, Army National Gurard, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Eric U. Ramirez, 31

Army National Guard, Specialist
Based: National City, Calif.
670th Military Police Company
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: February 12, 2004
Baghdad (Abu Ghraib), Iraq
Married, 2 children
Gender: Male
Hometown: San Diego
High School: Mount Dora High School (Mount Dora, Fla.)
Burial: Florida National Cemetery, Bushnell, Fla.

Spc. Eric U. Ramirez's last letter from Iraq arrived in Florida two weeks later, as his wife and parents were making plans for his funeral.

"That letter said to please pray for his wife, Tracey," said his father, Feliciano Ramirez, who lives in Mascotte, Fla. "He was always thinking of his family and other people."

Ramirez, who was assigned to the 670th Military Police Company, Army National Guard, in National City, Calif., was killed Feb. 12 in Abu Gireb, according to military officials. The 31-year-old soldier was attacked with small-arms fire, a rocket-propelled grenade and an improvised explosive device.
Ramirez attended Mount Dora High School in Florida, where he played soccer, baseball and football. After graduating in 1991, he joined the Navy and was stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas; Europe; and San Diego.


After leaving the Navy in 2000, he enlisted in the California National Guard, and went to work for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, serving warrants.


In San Diego, he also met his future wife, Tracey Benson. The couple traveled to Florida in August 2001 to be married in his father's church.


"That was the last time I saw him," his father said. "He had been so busy fulfilling his military obligations."

Ramirez was deployed to Iraq in January 2003. He returned briefly in December for the birth of his second child, Chase Eric Charles. The couple's daughter, Isis, is 2.


Ramirez was due to return home in 42 days, when he would have been discharged from the National Guard, his family said.


He also is survived by his maternal grandparents, Juan and Juana Gutierrez of Naranja, Fla.

Read the entire LA Times article about Army National Gurard Specialist Eric U. Ramirez here. Do find more at Military Times and at Fallen Heroes and at the California Army National Guard site.

Friends and relatives attend the military burial of 31-year-old Army Spc. Eric U. Ramirez at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Fla.
Photo from USA Today