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AN AMERICAN HERO AND FIREFIGHTER WILFREDO URBINA
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AN AMERICAN HERO AND FIREFIGHTER WILFREDO URBINA
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The immediate family of Wilfredo "Will" Urbina, expressed heartfelt gratitude for their angel.
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New York Loses Another Hero. A Son, Brother, Firefighter, Soldier and American Hero"
11.29.04
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| Wilfredo "Will" Urbina, a firefighter from Baldwin, Long Island, NY, the latest casualty in the war in Iraq. |
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The Defense Department did not release details of the incident yesterday, but Urbina's fellow firefighters in Baldwin said Army officials had visited their station house to deliver the news Monday afternoon.
"They just said he was killed in action in Baghdad, and it was a possible roadside bombing," said Baldwin Fire Capt. Jerry Brown, who worked closely with Urbina. "It just really hit home when one of the guys in the firehouse isn't coming back."
The military said yesterday that its November death toll -- fueled by the offensive against insurgents in Fallujah and insurgents' counterattacks -- reached at least 135, matching April as the deadliest month of the war. It was not clear whether the casualties Monday were included in the total.
For Wilfredo Urbina's family, the news of his death came three days after he had called them from Iraq to wish his mother a happy birthday. He had been there little more than a month.
"He was always interested in the military," said his sister, Arlin Urbina, 28, of Garfield, N.J. "He was just very dedicated, and always wanted to serve his country."
Described by his sister as optimistic and outgoing, Urbina was the eldest of three siblings. His youngest sister is a senior at Baldwin High School.
Urbina was born in Peru and grew up in the Bronx. He joined the Air Force shortly after his 1994 graduation from Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, his sister said. His family moved to Baldwin around the time he graduated, she said.
He left the service after four years but soon joined the Army National Guard, taking part in the recovery at Ground Zero after Sept. 11, 2001.
Urbina worked for a security firm contracted by the federal government and had been a volunteer firefighter for six years, Baldwin officials said.
He had wanted to be re-activated with the National Guard, and so he was ready when his Manhattan-based unit, First Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment -- the famous "Fighting 69th" -- was called in May, his colleagues said. He trained at Fort Hood in Texas and arrived in Iraq in October.
"He was a young guy, full of energy, and he was very enthusiastic about the fire department and the military," said Lt. John Nelson of the Baldwin Fire Department. "He was apprehensive as anybody would be, but he was looking forward to it. He wanted to get some licks in."
Arlin Urbina said although news reports of the escalating violence worried their father, Agustin, and his mother, Jeanette, he told them not to worry. "He always reassured her that everything was fine, even though we knew they were getting shot at every day," she said. "We could see it on the news. But he would never let on that he was in any danger."
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Firefighters from Urbina's firehouse in Baldwin hang a banner in tribute. |
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Lest We Forget
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©ArtAID 2004 Art in Service of Humanity.
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