SGT ERIC ULYSSES RAMIREZ
670th Military Police Company
Army Spc. Eric U. Ramirez, Age 31, of San Diego, Calif.
Assigned to the 670th Military Police Company, Army National Guard, National City, Calif.
Killed in action on Feb. 12, 2004 when he was attacked by small-arms fire, a rocket-propelled grenade and an improvised explosive device in Abu Ghraib, Iraq.
(www.militarycity.com)
Hundreds mourn central Florida soldier killed in Iraq
Associated Press
(www.militarycity.com)
MASCOTTE, Fla. — Mourners remembered Spec. Eric Ulysses Ramirez as one of his unit’s most valuable soldiers in Iraq and as a Star Wars fan who lived to be a “Jedi in his time.” Ramirez, 31, was killed while on patrol near a prison about 30 miles west of Baghdad before dawn Feb. 12 when his California National Guard unit was attacked by small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and homemade explosive devices, the U.S. Army said.
“We see the price of freedom in front of us,” Lake County School Board member Jimmy Conner said Saturday at La Primera Iglesia Bautista de Mascotte, a bilingual Baptist church where Ramirez’s father serves as pastor.
About 350 people crowded inside the church and under at tent outside for the funeral of Ramirez, who was raised in the Orlando area and graduated from Mount Dora High School in 1991.
Anthony Puente, who was the best man at Ramirez’s wedding, remembered throwing Ramirez a Star Wars themed party for his 27th birthday because his friend loved the movie.
Brig. Gen. James Combs, deputy adjutant general for the California National Guard, said Ramirez had shown the qualities of the movie heroes.
“He strapped on his laser sword for America,” Combs said. “He was, without question, a Jedi in his time.”
Master Sgt. Steve Studebaker, who served with Ramirez in Iraq, said the soldier was working as a gunner during the ambush on a routine patrol: “Basically, he was hunting for the bad guys.”
Studebaker
described Ramirez as one of the unit’s most valuable soldiers.
“He always had that
smile,” Studebaker said. “He always had that chuckle, just when you
needed it the most.”
Ramirez’s widow,
Tracy Benson-Ramirez, accepted three Gold Stars — one for herself and
one each for her daughter, Isis, who turns 2 next week, and son, Chase,
who was born in December.
Ramirez was buried
at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.
The Daily Commercial (Online Edition)
(www.mywebpal.com)
05/31/04
By JOHN HUETTER
Daily Commercial Staff Writer
MASCOTTE - It was a touching and sometime humorous slide show, and you felt as if you knew the man on the screen all his life. It began with a kid who was photographed by Christmas trees and wearing baseball uniforms and ended with a grown man posing with his own children by the Christmas tree and wearing military uniforms.
It was also an ominous countdown of a life those watching knew was cut short at the age of 31.
The presentation opened a ceremony at La Primera Iglesia Bautista Sunday to honor Spc. Eric Ulysses Ramirez, who was killed in Iraq earlier this year.
In the church lobby, photos of Ramirez were interspersed with handwritten messages. “Mr. Ramirez,” one read, “We are all very sorry about what happened to Eric. He will always be a hero in our hearts.”
Another read: “In loving memory of Eric U. Ramirez. An American hero.”
Inside the church, Ramirez’s personal items — such as medals and a baseball cap — rested on an altar inscribed with the message “Haced esto en memoria de Mi.” — “Do this in memory of Me.”
Pastor Feliciano F. “Felix” Ramirez, Eric’s father, said the church had not done Memorial Day events before but would do so every year hereafter — especially for Ramirez but for other fallen soldiers as well. He said Ramirez was the first in his family to be killed in combat.
“Eric was Eric,” Ramirez’s brother Adel said. “You could call him a hero, but he was Eric.”
Adel Ramirez remembered using cardboard to sled down Mount Dora landfill slopes with his brother and other children — “not much to do in Mount Dora,” he said — when they heard someone coming to chase them off the land.
He noticed Ramirez wasn’t following him, and returned to find Ramirez carrying a boy who had broken his ankle sledding.
“He wasn’t going to let anybody get stuck behind,” he said.
Adel Ramirez read a letter from his brother, occasionally substituting “bleep” for an expletive. However, voice breaking, he stopped for a moment. “Give me a second,” he said.
In the letter, Ramirez encouraged his stateside brother about his real estate license and asked about his plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas. He noted football season had begun and joked about finding out who won football games a week later.
“Hopefully, I’ll be home for good...for the baby’s birth,” Ramirez wrote, referring to his future son Chase Eric Charles Ramirez. He came back to the United States temporarily in December to see it, but despite Chase requiring surgery for intestinal complications, Ramirez’s request to remain home was denied and he returned to Iraq.
“I sure hope everything goes good,” Ramirez wrote, regarding his wife Tracy Benson Ramirez and daughter Isis Josephina Ramirez, 2. “I miss those two a lot.”
“There’s talk about keeping us ‘til April,” he wrote in autumn of 2003. “That would really suck.”
Ramirez was killed Feb. 12, 2004 in an ambush, less than 50 days before he was scheduled to leave Iraq. Julian Saenz was with Ramirez that night, and Adel Ramirez read a letter the other solider had written.
“I see him as a strong and true soldier,” Saenz wrote. “While your family grieves, I would like for you to know that his fellow soldiers grieve also.”
“It’s a shame,” Adel Ramirez said. “It shouldn’t have happened, but it did.”
“Everybody knows that Eric went to Heaven. Everybody knows that,” he said. “We just miss him.”
“I’m a selfish dude,” he said. “I wish I could have him here.”
Felix Ramirez read a list of the medals his son had earned. “We need to give him a hand right now, Amen?” he asked.
He also read a letter from Brig. Gen. James P. Combs. Combs said Ramirez would be remembered as a “courageous soldier” whose actions “helped liberate millions and are the actions of a hero.”
Combs wrote that America had been blessed with a history of patriots such as Ramirez. “Without such patriots, freedom cannot exist,” he wrote.
“I agree with this man, but I also miss my son so much,” Felix Ramirez said.
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