Elmhurst soldier killed in Iraq

&#8220He loved his family and he would have made a great father,” said Sam Lim, Justin Garca's grandfather, fighting back tears outside his Elmhurst home.
Garca, 26, of Elmhurst died when an improvised explosive device went off near his vehicle in Baghdad on Tuesday, November 14. His wife of just over a year is expecting their first child in three months.
About a week before he was killed, an enthusiastic Garca had posted an announcement on Myspace.com saying: &#8220I cannot wait to meet Junior.”
Lim said the family accepted his decision to join the army and yet knew there would be sacrifices. Now his 23-year-old pregnant wife is a widow.
Family members say that the child will now be named after his father.
The couple married July 1, 2005, and had been apart while Garca trained and was subsequently deployed to Iraq for a one-year tour.
Justin R. Garca was a member of the 2nd Infantry Division.
At the age of 12, Garca had to live through the loss of both his parents.
After the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, Garca made up his mind and enlisted in the army. He trained at Fort Lewis, located in Washington State, in November of 2004.
&#8220This hurts very much. He was a kind and smart person. He joined the service because he had compassion and he wanted to serve his country,” said a teary-eyed Lim outside his modest-sized, two-story white frame house in Elmhurst where the slain soldier lived throughout his adolescence.
&#8220He loved being a soldier. I tried to share some of the feelings I had against the war, and yet he'd hear me out and not take an anti-war stand. I am going to miss him.”
Lim added that Garca always found a way to phone or write to remain in touch.
According to the Pentagon, he died alongside one of the highest-ranking U.S. officers killed in Iraq to date, Col. Thomas H. Felts Sr., 45, of Sandston, Va., assigned to the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS.
&#8220The family of Queens joins the nation in mourning the death of Army Specialist Justin Garca who died in Iraq while serving his country,” said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. &#8220He is a hero, a patriot and an outstanding young man who has forever left us in his debt. Our thoughts and prayers are with his pregnant wife, Michelle, his extended family and all his loved ones.”
Garca graduated from St. Agnes High School in Manhattan, where he played soccer. He earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from St. Thomas Aquinas College, where he also played on the soccer team.
A wake was held on Tuesday November 21 at T.J. McGowan & Sons funeral home in Congers, N.Y. Services were held Wednesday November 22 at St. Paul’s Church in Congers.
In lieu of flowers, donations are requested to a fund on behalf of the couple's son, set up in Michelle Garca's name through the Bank of New York, 56 Lake Road, Congers, NY 10920.