Sergio Gudino: Pomona soldier killed in Iraq on Dec. 25, 2005

LA TIMES - Jan 29, 2006

GLENDALE - Sergio Gudino was remembered as a war hero and loyal family man Saturday during a somber ceremony too short for all the warm memories of his life, and in a church too small to hold all the people who loved him.

Gudino, a 21-year-old Army specialist from Pomona, died in Iraq on Christmas day when a bomb exploded near the M1-A1 tank he was driving in Baghdad.

Friends, relatives and fellow soldiers recalled the married father as a "gentle giant" during services at the Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in Glendale.

His hulking size allowed him to fill a room by himself, they said. But he also had the heart to match.

He was a straight-A student and a tremendous athlete who inspired everyone he knew. He could have accomplished anything he wanted in life, they said, but he died doing what he loved: Fighting for his country.

"Sergio fought for something he believed in," said his father, Victor. "He loved being a soldier, he loved his job."

Hundreds of people crowded inside the brown, stone church on the grounds of Forest Lawn. The crowd grew so large that many attendees had to stand in the back or listen to the services from a nearby room.

Nearly a hundred scruffy motorcycle riders, many Vietnam veterans, waited outside near their bikes in a show of respect.

Two of Gudino's Army buddies, both freshly home from Iraq, said he was a hard-charging soldier and "probably the best friend someone could have."

"He is a hero," said Sgt. J.P. Akers, who served in the same platoon. "He will not be forgotten."

Gudino joined the Army in 2003, two years after he graduated from Claremont HighSchool. He was deployed to Iraq a year ago.

"One thing was for sure," said his widow, Candy, "he loved being a soldier and he gave it his all."

He was buried with full military honors.

Gudino's casket was lowered to the ground. His 3-year-old son, Cyrus, was the first to drop a white flower into the grave.
 

~ San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Sergio Gudino was working three jobs to support his small family before he joined the Army. To provide for his wife and newborn son, he worked for United Parcel Service, at a sandwich shop and selling time shares.

The couple were married in 2001, the year Gudino graduated from Claremont High School as an athlete and straight-A student. He began attending Chaffey College, but shifted to the working world when he and Candy learned they were expecting a baby.

After holding down three jobs, he joined the Army in 2003, to the surprise of his older brother Victor, who described him as a "big ol' teddy bear."

"He was a strong person, but I couldn't see him ... shooting at people," Victor said. But "he liked what he was doing. He never seemed scared about anything."

Gudino was a quiet man with a constant smile and who loved being a soldier.

A roadside bomb exploded near the tank he was driving during combat in Baghdad on Christmas Day in 2005.

At the funeral, Gudino's then 3-year-old son, Cyrus, was the first to drop a white flower into the grave.

Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale, CA