Bruce Salazar remembered by mother

TRACY — It's an all-too-familiar occurrence in Tracy.

Pfc. Bruce C. Salazar Jr. of Modesto died Friday of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device in Muhammad Sath, Iraq, according to the Department of Defense.

Salazar moved to Tracy less than a year before enlisting in the military.

He is the seventh soldier with ties to Tracy to have died in Iraq, and third in the past 19 months.

"He was such an outgoing kid, and he loved his friends and family so much," said his mother, Suzie Ruiz, fighting back tears. "He was a character, always smiling, never letting anything get him down."

Salazar was an infantryman assigned to the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team in the 3rd Infantry Division headquartered at Fort Stewart, Ga.

He joined the military in January 2006 and arrived at Fort Stewart in May.

"When he was little, we lived down the street from a military recruiting office, and he used to hang out there all the time," Ruiz said. "I always knew that one day he was going to join the military, there was no way anybody was going to change his mind.

"He died doing what he loved to do," Ruiz said.

As Salazar grew up, he spent his time between a home in Southern California and Modesto. His mother and sister currently live in Modesto while his father and four half-sisters live in Arkansas.
Ruiz said that when her son would contact her from Iraq, he only wanted to know how his family was holding up.
"He wanted to know what was going on at home and how everyone was doing," she said. "He didn't want to talk about himself or what was going on over there. He would just say, 'don't watch the news and don't read the papers' because he did not want to upset us."

Marilyn Chorley, a founding member of Tracy Military Moms, a support group for parents with children serving in the military, is planning on reaching out to the Ruiz family.

"It's not natural for your kids to be sent into danger but its all volunteer and we support them," Chorley said.

"It's sad and scary. They go and they want to do this for their country. We've got hundreds and hundreds of kids that have gone over there and come home safely. We pray they all come back but it's sad that a few don't."

Ruiz said her family is doing their best to cope with the tragic loss of Salazar.

"His father is not taking it well," she said. "His sister and I are also having moments that are extremely difficult to get through. But he was a big-hearted kid and we will never forget him."

From the Alameda Times Star

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Bruce Salazar remembered by father

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Bruce C. Salazar Jr. dies 'of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device'