Sgt. Israel Garcia, a 2002 Long Beach Poly High School graduate who was killed in action in Afghanistan, was remembered during a ceremony Friday at the school as a man who followed his dreams and inspired others.
Friends, family and others who knew Sgt. Garcia attended the ceremony at which a bench outside the school was dedicated to his memory.
"It's going to be part of the school," said Lesly Garcia, who married Sgt. Garcia in March 2006. "He loved it here. Hopefully, the students will be inspired to follow their dreams. For my husband, it was joining the Army.
"It's perfect timing -- it couldn't be better than Memorial Day Weekend."
Sgt. Garcia was killed July 13, 2008 when his company was ambushed in the Battle of Wanat. The 24-year-old was scheduled to return home from a 15-month deployment two weeks later.
He was one of nine service members killed in the ambush.
The bench includes information about Sgt. Garcia and the medals he received posthumously, including the Silver Star -- the third-highest award for valor -- Bronze Star, and Purple Heart.
The bench was the idea of Operation Enduring Freedom veteran Steven Kerns, who served with Garcia in the 173d Airborne Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan. He sought donations for money used to pay for the bench.
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"He brought together men to face seemingly impossible situations," Kerns said Friday during the dedication ceremony. "He even got some of you out of class today.
"It takes a lot of guts to stand your ground against hundreds of enemy combatants. It takes even more to advance against them. It takes a man like Sgt. Garcia to get other men to follow you."
Sgt. Garcia, who moved with his family to Long Beach from Nayarit, Mexico when he was 2 years old, was deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. Between tours, he often returned to the school to talk with teachers, coaches and other staff members.
He joined the Army four months after graduating from high school, where he met his future wife during the summer of his senior year.
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