Justin Garcia laid to rest

CONGERS - Family and friends yesterday protectively guarded the entrance of T.J. McGowan Sons Funeral Home, where the young widow of Spc. Justin Garcia mourned her husband's death.

Garcia, a 26-year-old Valley Cottage soldier, was killed Nov. 14 in Iraq. He was on his first tour of duty in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated near the Humvee he was riding in.

In a telephone interview earlier yesterday, Garcia's widow, Michelle, said she hoped people would remember her husband's cheerful personality. Michelle Garcia is six months' pregnant with the couple's first child.

"He was always trying to make people laugh, and he was always there for people if anyone needed anything," she said. "He would do anything for anyone."

Outside the funeral home, where a wake was held, Justin Garcia's sister-in-law Jennifer Narciso and cousin Nick Narciso said they would remember him as the life of the party.

"Just being in a room," Nick Narciso said, "he didn't have to talk, and he would make everyone happy.

"He's probably one of the best people I've ever met," the 27-year-old man said.

"He was fun," said 19-year-old Jennifer Narciso, "always caring and loved everybody."

Garcia, a Queens native, had always wanted to join the Army and was eager to enlist after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He joined the Army soon after he graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice.

In his nearly three-year career with the Army, Garcia received the Army Service Ribbon, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Army Achievement Medal, said Leslie Kay, a spokeswoman at Fort Lewis, Wash., where Garcia was based.

A funeral will be at 10 a.m. today at St. Paul's Church in Congers, the same church where Garcia and his bride were married last year. Burial will follow in Gethsemane Cemetery in Rockland Lake.

Michelle Garcia will receive a Bronze Star and Purple Heart on her husband's behalf.

"I want people to remember all the happy times with him and to be proud of what he did," she said.

From the Journal News

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