ASpotswood resident who was recently deployed to Iraq was killed last week when an improvised explosive device went off in the area where he was working in Baghdad.
Michael Gonzalez U.S. Army Spc. Michael Gonzalez, 20, was described by those who knew him as a polite young man who aspired to be a police officer. He joined the military after graduating Spotswood High School in 2006 and at the time of his death on Aug. 28 was serving as a military policeman.
High school teacher Frank Yusko had Gonzalez as a student in his history and criminal justice classes.
“After he joined the service, he stopped in to see me,” Yusko said. “The last time, he was in camouflage and he told me he was deployed. I told him to stay safe and wished him well, and that was the last time I saw him.”
“He was a wonderful kid. People always say that at these times, but he was a lot of fun, and he liked to joke,” Yusko added. “But he was a serious student, especially in criminal justice. He saw it as a way of helping him become a police officer. He was just a real nice kid.”
Henry Kearney, an Army spokesman, said he did not have details about what Gonzalez’s unit was doing at the time of the explosion.
Gonzalez is survived by his mother and father, of Spotswood, a brother Troy, his grandparents and a girlfriend.
His family issued the following statement through the Army’s Office of Public Affairs:
“Michael was a wonderful son and a great soldier who died fighting for what he believed in. Michael served his country as a soldier to make a difference in the world. He will forever be missed by his family and friends.”
Gonzalez was a longtime employee of ShopRite in East Brunswick, and attended Middlesex County College. He had an avid interest in weightlifting.
After graduating high school, he joined the Army and completed his basic and advanced training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. in July 2006. He then graduated from the military police school in December 2006.
He joined the 340th Military Police Co. shortly before deploying with his unit from Fort Dix to Iraq earlier this summer. The soldier’s home unit is the 430th Military Police Detachment, Red Bank.
Among Gonzalez’s awards and decorations are the Global War on Terrorism Ribbon and the Army Service Ribbon.
Spotswood Councilwoman Marge Drozd said Gonzalez graduated from high school a year before her youngest son, and that she had heard “great things” about Gonzalez.
“You never think it’s going to happen in your town, but it was such a shocker,” Drozd said.
Spotswood Mayor Thomas Barlow said that as the father of three, he found the news “heartwrenching,” and Council President Curtis Stollen said described it as a “terrible, terrible thing for the family and community.
“He left the peace and safety of our hometown,” Stollen said. “It’s just terribly sad. I am sure words are of little comfort to his family at this point.”
Stollen noted how Gonzalez served in the borough’s youth police academy, which is intended to provide teenagers with an understanding of police work.
Yusko said he has not seen Gonzalez’s family since his death, but that the school “will talk about what we can do for his family and memory.”
He said Gonzalez would be recognized on the school’s Wall Of Honor. The Wall honors the men and women from Spotswood who have served overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“In seven years of Afghanistan and Iraq, we’ve had over 30 kids serve,” Yusko said.
Carol Wanas, a customer service manager at the ShopRite where Gonzalez worked for about two years, said he was “an outstanding guy with a very warm heart, and he always lit up the room.”
She also said he was a dedicated soldier who was sure he wanted to serve.
ShopRite employees held a memorial service for Gonzalez on Friday outside the store.
“We had a lot of employees talk about him as part of the healing,” Wanas noted.
Kearney said funeral arrangements were still pending at press time for this issue Tuesday.