Alexander Rosa Jr. dies 'of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle'

When Alex Rosa Jr. realized he was going to be a dad, he purchased baby books and read them into a tape recorder. He wanted his infant daughter to get used to his voice while he was stationed in Iraq.

In Army Spc. Rosa's usual clownlike manner, he brought each book to life. He described what filled the book's pages and made the appropriate noises to tell the whole story, such as a pig's oink.

Those recordings were supposed to be a temporary substitute for the real thing. Now they are his legacy.

Rosa, 22, was killed Friday in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle. His daughter, Ellie, is only a month old. His wife, Melissa, is a widow just eight months after marriage.

"He did not want to be in Iraq," his aunt, Elizabeth Mendez-Soto of Winter Park, said Tuesday. "But he said he had to go back, that it was his job."

Rosa was a Brooklyn, N.Y., native and an avid Mets fan. He lived for the simple things in life: making strangers smile, ice cream, face-painting with his niece, a cold Heineken and yukking it up with friends. The Boone High School graduate was also a music junkie, wearing headphones so often that he snapped a picture of his newborn sporting them too. He was allowed to return for her birth in April.

And Rosa was a man of his word, even in the strangest of situations.

While stationed in Korea, a friend gave him a wooden statue to take with him. She asked him to snap pictures with it when he traveled back to the States. And he did. In the rain. In New York. Out having fun with friends.

"Everywhere he went, he had that damn statue," his aunt said, turning photograph after photograph of the slender figurine.

He was a tall, muscular guy, a distinctive mix of his Irish and Puerto Rican backgrounds. He had a scar through his right eyebrow, a reminder of his clumsier years as a kid. He always wore a goofy grin.

"He was always looking to have a good time, always in the middle of everything," Mendez-Soto said. "You would meet him and love him."

And his unit did.

"For everyone that knew Alex Rosa, it's hard to say his name without cracking at least a giggle. He was always the 'joker' but also very proficient in his daily duties in the Army," Ben Graham wrote on his own MySpace page. He and Rosa, assigned to the 293rd Military Police Company, were based at Fort Stewart together.

Rosa's mother, Jeanette, formerly of Orlando, and his wife, who also was in the military, had moved to Georgia so they could be close to Rosa's base.

The Department of Defense reported Monday that he was stationed at a base in Texas. Army officials Tuesday could not explain the discrepancy.

Rosa died wearing a St. Valentine medallion his wife gave him with their initials inscribed on the back. He was the same age as his father -- and namesake -- when his father was murdered.

"He was a baby when his father died, just like his daughter is now," Mendez-Soto said.

Family members worked Tuesday to grant Rosa's final wish: to be buried in something other than his Army fatigues. They picked out a suit and tennis shoes for him.

He will be laid to rest in New York, where he had hoped to become a police officer.

"You will NEVER be forgotten, and will ALWAYS hold a special place in our hearts," Graham wrote. "Please be there on all of our shoulders as we finish our missions in Iraq."

From the Orlando Sentinel