Vicente Gonzalez: “Thank you very much, Mr. Baca. There is another individual that I want to recognize tonight, an extraordinary individual…”

“Thank you very much, Mr. Baca. There is another individual that I want to recognize tonight, an extraordinary individual from an extraordinary family. This is Specialist Rodrigo Gonzalez-Garza. He comes from San Antonio. He died on February 25, 2003, when the Black Hawk helicopter in which he was riding crashed during a night mission 30 miles north of the Kuwaiti border. He was 26 years young. Specialist Gonzalez-Garza was born in Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico and was brought to the United States by his parents as an infant. He graduated from San Antonio's Fox Tech High School in 1996 and joined the Army in 1998. Specialist Gonzalez-Garza, like many other casualties of the Iraq war, did not die an American citizen. He died defending the United States and pursuing a dream to become a citizen of this country. Only in death was his goal finally achieved. After he gave his life, Specialist Gonzalez-Garza was awarded posthumous citizenship. Specialist Gonzalez-Garza's sacrifice on our behalf is remarkable and perhaps only matched by the contribution that his parents have made to this great country. Specialist Gonzalez-Garza's parents, Ramiro and Orelia Gonzalez, have three other sons in the military, Staff Sergeant Ramiro Gonzalez, PVT Roland Gonzalez, and PVT Ricardo Gonzalez, Rodrigo's twin brother. One would find it difficult to find a family more devoted to the United States and our American way of life than the Gonzalez family.”