thedrifter
03-17-08, 06:55 AM
Mother of fallen Watsonville soldier still struggling with son's death
TOM RAGAN - SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
Article Launched: 03/17/2008 12:00:00 AM PDT
PAJARO -- Amalia Gonzalez is no stranger to the sadness the Iraq war has caused.
Victor Gonzalez, her eldest son and a Watsonville High School graduate, died Oct. 13, 2004, in Iraq after his convoy was attacked in Al Anbar Province. He was 19.
He'd been a cadet for the Watsonville Police Department before he went off to train at Camp Pendleton, then to war. He'd been a good student, teachers said.
He had been a good son, too, his mother said Sunday.
Gonzalez joined the military right after he graduated from high school in 2003, rising to the rank of lance corporal in the Marines. He'd heard the Marines would pay his way through college -- or, at the very least, for the police academy.
"His dream was to be an FBI agent or a detective," said his 48-year-old mother. Instead, she added, "he died in a war in another country that's still going on and nobody can ever really give you a good answer on why. Every day, innocent people die, civilians die, soldiers die, but why? They said it was for the petroleum, but that can't be. They said it was to kill al-Qaida, but that can't be. I think it's just politics -- los politicos."
Gonzalez said not a day goes by that she doesn't think of her son, who's buried at Valley Catholic Cemetery off of Highway 152 -- just a few miles from where she works as a travel agent. She is also the owner of Beach Street Video across from the plaza downtown.
Since Victor's death, she's become somewhat of an anti-war activist, but not the kind who gives speeches and flies around the country. She can't afford to, she said. She's got a business to run and plane tickets to sell.
Instead she fights her small battles in opposing the war -- whether it's giving a speech in Moss Landing at a motorcycle rally on Memorial Day or kicking off some Fourth of July parade in Santa Cruz County.
"Victor is gone, and there's no bringing him back," she said. "But I want people to know that if he knew what was going on, if he knew that it's been five years and there's no end in sight, he'd oppose the war, too. I'm sure of that."
Victor's mother came from Mexico more than three decades ago to work in the United States. So did his father, Sergio. They live in a small farm house in Pajaro, just across the river from Watsonville. They've been there for decades.
Victor had hoped to make something of himself, his mother said.
"It was his choice," she said. "But I think it's time that our government makes a choice and brings the troops home."
Victor is survived by three siblings: Ednia Gonzalez, 19, a student at Cabrillo College; Oscar, 15; and Mirna, 6.
Contact Tom Ragan at tragan@santacruzsentinel.com.
Ellie
TOM RAGAN - SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
Article Launched: 03/17/2008 12:00:00 AM PDT
PAJARO -- Amalia Gonzalez is no stranger to the sadness the Iraq war has caused.
Victor Gonzalez, her eldest son and a Watsonville High School graduate, died Oct. 13, 2004, in Iraq after his convoy was attacked in Al Anbar Province. He was 19.
He'd been a cadet for the Watsonville Police Department before he went off to train at Camp Pendleton, then to war. He'd been a good student, teachers said.
He had been a good son, too, his mother said Sunday.
Gonzalez joined the military right after he graduated from high school in 2003, rising to the rank of lance corporal in the Marines. He'd heard the Marines would pay his way through college -- or, at the very least, for the police academy.
"His dream was to be an FBI agent or a detective," said his 48-year-old mother. Instead, she added, "he died in a war in another country that's still going on and nobody can ever really give you a good answer on why. Every day, innocent people die, civilians die, soldiers die, but why? They said it was for the petroleum, but that can't be. They said it was to kill al-Qaida, but that can't be. I think it's just politics -- los politicos."
Gonzalez said not a day goes by that she doesn't think of her son, who's buried at Valley Catholic Cemetery off of Highway 152 -- just a few miles from where she works as a travel agent. She is also the owner of Beach Street Video across from the plaza downtown.
Since Victor's death, she's become somewhat of an anti-war activist, but not the kind who gives speeches and flies around the country. She can't afford to, she said. She's got a business to run and plane tickets to sell.
Instead she fights her small battles in opposing the war -- whether it's giving a speech in Moss Landing at a motorcycle rally on Memorial Day or kicking off some Fourth of July parade in Santa Cruz County.
"Victor is gone, and there's no bringing him back," she said. "But I want people to know that if he knew what was going on, if he knew that it's been five years and there's no end in sight, he'd oppose the war, too. I'm sure of that."
Victor's mother came from Mexico more than three decades ago to work in the United States. So did his father, Sergio. They live in a small farm house in Pajaro, just across the river from Watsonville. They've been there for decades.
Victor had hoped to make something of himself, his mother said.
"It was his choice," she said. "But I think it's time that our government makes a choice and brings the troops home."
Victor is survived by three siblings: Ednia Gonzalez, 19, a student at Cabrillo College; Oscar, 15; and Mirna, 6.
Contact Tom Ragan at tragan@santacruzsentinel.com.
Ellie