Torrance soldier's body found in Iraq by searchers

Missing Torrance soldier's aunt says military told family that Pfc. Joseph Anzack's commanding officer had identified his body. Another body was reportedly found nearby.

By Jeremiah Marquez
The Associated Press

After agonizing over an earlier rumor that their son had been killed in Iraq and then learning he had been abducted with two other soldiers, the family of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. received the dreaded news Wednesday that his body was found in the Euphrates River.

A military official accompanied by police officers visited the Anzack home and told his family that, while a DNA test was pending, a commanding officer made the identification, his aunt told The Associated Press.

"They told us we're sorry to inform you the body we found has been identified as Joe," said Debbie Anzack, choking back tears. "I'm in disbelief."

Anzack, 20, was one of three soldiers who vanished after their combat team was ambushed May 12 about 20 miles outside of Baghdad. Five others, including an Iraqi, were killed in the ambush, subsequently claimed by al-Qaida.

Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces searched desert, lush farmland and even sewage-tainted irrigation ditches for more than a week in temperatures that reached 110-degrees. Another body was found near Anzack's, his aunt said after the briefing from the military official.

After word of the death spread in this suburb of about 150,000 residents 20 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles, a grieving woman and several other people visited the second-floor stucco apartment where his father lives. An American flag was draped on the balcony and a red, white and blue United We Stand sign was hanging on the front door, along with a yellow ribbon.

Anzack's family had held out hope for the past 11 days. They had already endured an earlier rumor that he was dead — and were relieved to learn he was alive.

About a month ago, messages on the MySpace Web site said the Army gunner had died. South High School, where Anzack played football, posted a message on the school's marquee reading: "In Loving Memory Joseph Anzack Class of 2005." It was unclear how the rumor started.

His father, Joseph Anzack, called the Red Cross about the rumors, and military commanders were able to get his son to a phone where he confirmed he was alive and well.

In high school, Anzack was surprisingly self-assured, knowing early that he wanted to join the military, said his friend and football teammate Kyle Flynn.

"I just remember, as a sophomore or a junior in high school, he was set on it, said 'I'm ready to go,'" said Flynn, now a 20-year-old sophomore at San Jose State University. "I know that's what he wanted to do, that was what he was about, and I respected him more than anyone else in the world, to grow up so fast to go over there and fight for us and our freedom."

Flynn said the two became fast friends on the football team. Anzack played nose guard, while Flynn was a defensive back.

"He was very positive. He was a guy you could look to and say 'I'm OK. I've got Joe right there,'" Flynn said. "He was a man among boys when we were in high school. You don't realize that until something like this happened."

Anzack was a private first class in Company D, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade combat team.

Meanwhile, friends and relatives anxiously awaited word in the hometowns of the other captured soldiers: Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass.; and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich.

A yellow ribbon was tied to the front door of Jimenez's father's home in the former mill city north of Boston. Ramon Jimenez, who speaks Spanish, said through a translator in a cell phone conversation that he has been buoyed by the support of friends and family.

"The hope is very high that God is going to give Alex back to him," said Wendy Luzon, a family friend who translated the conversation and has been serving as a spokeswoman for the family.

Iraqi police using civilian boats searched for other bodies on the river in Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, and U.S. troops intensified their presence on a nearby bridge as helicopters flew overhead, witnesses said.

Hassan al-Jibouri, 32, said he saw the body with head wounds and whip marks on its back floating on the river Wednesday morning. He and others then alerted police.

Photo Caption: The younger sister of Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr. grieves with a friend Wednesday in Torrance, California.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The body of a man dragged from the Euphrates River south of Baghdad has been identified as Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., one of three U.S. soldiers thought to have been kidnapped earlier this month, the U.S. military said Thursday.

Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle also said reports of a second body being found along with Anzack's on Wednesday are "false."

A massive military manhunt in the area -- known as the Triangle of Death -- started immediately after news of the three soldiers' apparent abduction.

On Wednesday, an official with Iraq's Interior Ministry said authorities in Mussayib were notified by Iraqi civilians who saw a body floating down the Euphrates. Witnesses told police the man looked "Western." (Watch military authorities speak of their duty to the GI's family )

Witnesses said he had a gunshot wound to the head and torso, and a U.S. military source in Iraq told CNN the body was clad in U.S. military-issued pants. (Watch Iraqis gather near the river where the body was found )

Mussayib is about 35 km south of Mahmoudiya, a town south of Baghdad where an eight-person military team was attacked on May 12. Four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi soldier were killed, and three U.S. soldiers were thought to be captured.

Anzack, 20, was a gunner from Torrance, California. His platoon leader, 1st Lt. Morgan Spring-Glace, told CNN last week that local media there had once -- prior to the May 12 attack -- erroneously reported Anzack was dead. (Read more about the platoon)

A military representative had been en route to Iskandariya to get a look at the body, the military said earlier. That's where testing was being done to determine the identity.

One military official had said Wednesday that the body might need to be sent to Dover Air Force Base in the United States to determine identity.

The representative was from the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division's Second Brigade Combat Team, the unit the U.S. soldiers are from.

The other two missing soldiers are Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Michigan.

Jimenez's mother, Maria del Rosario Duran, pleaded Wednesday for his safety.

"This is very hard for me and for my family," she said. "Everybody loves Alex. Alex, I miss you. Please come back. If somebody's got him, please bring my son back, please."

The military issued a statement later Wednesday that Iraqi Special Operations Forces searching for the missing people on Monday detained two people "suspected of insurgent activities" and found truck bombs and bomb caches south of the capital.

Military Confirms Identity of Murdered Soldier, Denies Reports of Second Body
Thursday , May 24, 2007

BAGHDAD —

The U.S. military on Thursday announced that a body pulled out a river south of Baghdad belonged to Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., one of three soldiers missing since an ambush on their unit nearly two weeks ago.

"We can confirm that we have recovered the remains of Pfc. Anzack," said Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle, a military spokeswoman.

Aberle denied reports that a second set of remains had been found and was being examined to determine if they belonged to another of the missing soldiers.

"The reports of a second set of remains being found is a false report," she said.

Anzack, 20, was one of three soldiers who vanished after their combat team was ambushed May 12 about 20 miles outside of Baghdad. Five others, including an Iraqi, were killed in the ambush, subsequently claimed by Al Qaeda.

Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces searched desert, lush farmland and even sewage-tainted irrigation ditches for more than a week in temperatures that reached 110-degrees. Anzack's family had held out hope for the past 11 days. They had already endured an earlier rumor of his death.

About a month ago, messages on the MySpace Web site said the Army gunner had died. South High School in this suburb of about 150,000 residents 20 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles posted a message on the school's marquee reading: "In Loving Memory Joseph Anzack Class of 2005."

His father, Joseph Anzack, called the Red Cross about the rumors, and military commanders were able to get his son to a phone where he confirmed he was alive and well.

Anzack was a private first class in Company D, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade combat team.

Friends and relatives anxiously awaited word in the hometowns of the other captured soldiers: Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass.; and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich.

A yellow ribbon was tied to the front door of Jimenez's father's home in the former mill city north of Boston. Ramon Jimenez, who speaks Spanish, said through a translator in a cell phone conversation that he has been buoyed by the support of friends and family.

"The hope is very high that God is going to give Alex back to him," said Wendy Luzon, a family friend who translated the conversation and has been serving as a spokeswoman for the family.

Iraqi police using civilian boats searched for other bodies on the river in Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, and U.S. troops intensified their presence on a nearby bridge as helicopters flew overhead, witnesses said.

Hassan al-Jibouri, 32, said he saw the body with head wounds and whip marks on its back floating on the river Wednesday morning. He and others then alerted police.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Link to the LA Times site to watch the video report.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq24may24,0,5478881.story

PHOTO CAPTION: Iraqis pull a body in U.S. uniform from the Euphrates River south of Baghdad, not far from where three soldiers were captured nearly two weeks ago. The aunt of one, Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., of Torrance, said the military had confirmed his death.
(Associated Press)


From the Los Angeles Times
CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Body of Torrance soldier is found
By Garrett Therolf and Louis Sahagun
Times Staff Writers

May 24, 2007

BAGHDAD — The body of Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr. of Torrance was found Wednesday floating down the Euphrates River 12 miles south of the site where he and two other soldiers were captured by insurgents nearly two weeks ago, the U.S. military confirmed this morning.

The soldiers have been the subject of a massive search by thousands of troops since a May 12 ambush that also killed four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter.

"The family received notification last night" that the 20-year-old gunner was dead, said Army Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle, spokeswoman for the U.S. military in Iraq.

In Baghdad, the U.S. military also reported that nine soldiers and Marines were killed Monday and Tuesday in five separate roadside bombings and shooting attacks across Iraq. The deaths raised the number of American soldiers killed to 3,431, according to icasualties.org, a website that tracks military casualties.

An Iraqi officer at the site where Anzack's body was found said police had received reports that there were two other bodies in the river, also clad in U.S. military uniforms. But the officer said a witness reported that the bodies had become submerged, and an American search team had not found them. The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information.

A U.S. military spokesman played down the report, and Aberle said this morning that reports of another body were incorrect.

Anzack appeared to have been dead for several days, and had suffered about half a dozen gunshot wounds to his face, skull and neck, making it difficult to identify him, the Iraqi officer said.

His arms and chest appeared to have suffered blows, he said.

*

Found near marketplace

The body was discovered about 11 a.m. by shoppers near a marketplace in Musayyib, a small town surrounded by fruit orchards and date palms less than 40 miles south of Baghdad.

Two police officers and a civilian swam into the river to recover the corpse. When they returned to shore, they recognized the American uniform and summoned U.S. forces.

Listed as missing with Anzack were Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass., and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich.

Thousands of U.S. forces have conducted searches centered around Yousifiya, a market town of about 5,000 people southwest of Baghdad.

More than 900 residents have been detained, and an American soldier was killed when a bomb exploded during the search.

"We continue to remain prayerful and hopeful," Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV said earlier in the day. "The search continues right now."

*

Grief in Torrance

But in Torrance on Wednesday evening, where friends and relatives gathered at the modest, second-story apartment of the local soldier's father, Joseph Anzack Sr., the anxious waiting for news was over.

A witness said a military officer wearing a beret entered the home about 5 p.m. and stayed for about an hour. Another man, believed to be a chaplain, arrived a short time later and also stayed in the apartment about an hour. A small group of Torrance police officers also came to the apartment complex, protecting the family's privacy.

The soldier's aunt, Debbie Anzack, said she was in the apartment when the military officer told the family that the dead serviceman "was Joe." Fighting back tears, she said, "It's unbelievable. Just unbelievable."

She said the officer reported that the identification was made, apparently by a commanding officer in Iraq, even though the military was still awaiting DNA results.

*

Rumors about death

The word of Anzack's death follows the circulation of rumors that he had died a month ago, before the soldier's capture. Friends from South High School in Torrance even left condolence messages on his MySpace.com Web page. But those rumors were refuted after the soldier's father contacted the Red Cross, and military officials arranged for the Army gunner to call his father to let him know he was well.

Debbie Anzack said her brother, the soldier's father, would provide a statement regarding his son's death this morning. "Right now, he is devastated," she said of her brother. "He doesn't want to cry on television."



Meanwhile, 20 Iraqis were killed when a man detonated an explosives-packed vest in a tea house and restaurant in downtown Mandali, a town of Shiite Kurds in northeastern Iraq.

Just south of Baghdad's Green Zone, five carloads of gunmen stormed a marketplace, killing five civilians. American and Iraqi forces engaged in a gunfight with the attackers for more than an hour as a curfew shut down much of the downtown area.

In the Karada district of the city, two mortar rounds killed five civilians and injured 14 others.

In north Baghdad, three well-known wrestlers who worked as police officers were intercepted as they drove home from an athletic club. They were found dead hours later.

Police reported finding 30 unidentified bodies in Baghdad, and five more in Ramadi, 60 miles west.

One of those found dead was a young woman who worked for the Iraqi Cabinet. The woman's body, found in the Dora district of the capital, showed signs of rape and torture, including a gash that opened her abdomen.

*

Military operations

In the last week, the military has conducted 48 operations focusing on Al Qaeda in Iraq, killing 19 suspects and detaining 88 others, Caldwell said.

In Karmah, a small town nine miles from Fallouja, two of the organization's hide-outs were discovered and 17 kidnapping victims were freed, including a 13-year-old boy who had been tortured with electrical wires attached to his tongue, Caldwell said.

*


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
garrett.therolf@latimes.com

Therolf reported from Baghdad and Sahagun from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Ned Parker and special correspondents in Baghdad and in Diyala and Babil provinces, and Times staff writer Stuart Silverstein in Los Angeles, contributed to this report.

Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20

Joseph's myspace page his here:

http://www.myspace.com/108968965

HIS UNHOLINESS (GEORGE WARMONGER BUSH) : "Gee now who do you think is responsible for the surge in Iraq Violence ???????? You don't think I have anything to do with it do you ???????? READY TO REVIL WITH THE DEVIL ????????"

PHOTO CAPTION: Josh Waybright, South High School football coach, places a football jersey worn by former student Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. on a makeshift memorial at South High School in Torrance, where Anzack was a student. Army officials confirmed the 20-year-old's body was found in Iraq during a search for him and two other soldiers. (Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)

South High remembers soldier

Torrance school dedicates football season to Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr.

By Shelly Leachman, Staff writer
Long Beach Press Telegram

Exhale.
He breathed deep before he read the message aloud, his voice cracking almost as soon as he started.

"Miss me a little, but not too long, and not with your head bowed low. Remember the love that once was shared. Miss me but let me go."

"That gave me a good cry," he said after finishing, taking another deep sigh to steady his voice.

An anonymous poem, posted on his Web page by a stranger. It's just one of the many unexpected gestures helping Joseph Anzack Sr. cope with the death of his son.

"People we haven't talked to in years, people we don't even know ... so many people caring. I'm honored," Anzack Sr. told the Daily Breeze on Thursday.

A day after receiving the news no father wants to hear, sandy-haired, light-eyed Anzack Sr., relatives and friends of Torrance soldier Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., 20, were still struggling to make peace with his brutal killing in Iraq.

"I love my Joseph," the elder Anzack said by phone. "I'm just really gonna miss him. I am."

"It was all we could do just to function yesterday," aunt Dawn Anzack-Ayers said separately. "We're just trying to get our bearings right now ... We're just laying low today, praying for all the guys over there now."

Anzack Sr. said he learned Thursday that his son's body may arrive in the U.S. as soon as today, and that the Army, by regulation, will conduct DNA tests before releasing Joseph Jr.'s remains.

Plans for a funeral or memorial service have not been made. Anzack Sr. is still awaiting a copy of his son's will -- the military requires all its soldiers to complete one -- to determine where to bury him.

"Whatever his wishes were, that's what we'll do," Anzack Sr. said. "If he asked for Arlington, he's there. I think that's an option for us and it's an honor being there."

On his first tour in Iraq, Anzack Jr., 20, and two fellow soldiers were missing since a May 12 ambush on their patrol that left four Americans and one Iraqi dead. al-Qaida later claimed the attack and the abductions of the three infantrymen.

Word surfaced early Wednesday that a body in a U.S. military uniform had been pulled from the Euphrates River. The Anzack family learned late that afternoon that the casualty, who had been shot in the head, was Joseph Jr.

The search continues for Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass., and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich.

"It's just sad, and I wish they could find those other two boys," Anzack-Ayers told the Daily Breeze. "That's all I can say. It's just sad."

The mood was somber at Anzack Jr.'s alma mater, South High, on Thursday, when the 2,300-student campus shared a moment of silence and seven grief counselors were on site to offer assistance.

As the hours passed, a makeshift memorial spread across the school's front steps -- bright bouquets of flowers; flags of all sizes; a garland of red, white and blue; some candles burning in glass, others melting colorfully on the pavement. At the center of it all, a hand-penned poster bearing the words "We love and miss you Joe Anzack. You're our hero."

Personal messages written in the placard's remaining white space expressed disbelief over the soldier's death and love for a fallen friend.

"Joe man I freakin' miss you. I wish this was just a bad dream," one entry read. "I wanna let you know I love you and I will never forget you ... till we meet agen (sic) my friend, you will always be in my heart."

Across campus, students, faculty and coaches all remembered the 2005 graduate -- a standout noseguard on the varsity football team -- as a quiet kid with a big presence and a kind heart who wanted more than anything to be in the Army.

"When I think about Joe I can picture him in his Army pants. He wore them to school at least once a week," Vasquez said graduating senior Malissa Vasquez, 18, describing Anzack Jr. as "somebody you could always talk to," "accepting of everybody," and "always positive."

"I remember him saying if there was one thing he really wanted to do, it was to join the Army and go to Iraq," Vasquez continued. "He wanted to fight for his country. That's what he wanted to do with his life, and he did it."

When school let out Thursday, the football squad gathered in a giant huddle on the South High field for an impromptu memorial, where head coach Josh Waybright told his players that their fallen former teammate is "in a better place now, that God has him."

He said the team will retire the number and dedicate the coming season to Anzack Jr.

The American flag, A piece of cloth. laying down by the spent candles
reaching out, trying to fill the abyss.

PHOTO CAPTION: Richard Geraldo, 19, places flowers on a memorial at South High School in Torrance for Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack, Jr. (Al Seib / LAT)May 24, 2007

From the Los Angeles Times
Boyhood friend remembers Torrance soldier
By Louis Sahagun
Times Staff Writer

12:27 PM PDT, May 24, 2007

At 11 o'clock this morning, Richard Geraldo, 19, of Torrance added two candles to a memorial to his childhood friend Joe Anzack, which was created around midnight on the steps of the main entrance to South High School in Torrance.

"I set some candles down with a vow: 'I'm sorry I couldn't be there, Joe, but I'll make it up to you by going over there and doing your job,' " Geraldo said, referring to Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., the Army gunner found dead Wednesday in Iraq.

Geraldo, who was recently discharged from the Marine Corps because of a medical problem, said he was working with a recruiter to get back into the service as soon as possible.

"I'm trying to get back in. I'd go over there now if I could."

Like many of Anzack's childhood friends, Geraldo also endured false rumors a month ago that Anzack had died in action in Baghdad. And like them, he searched the Internet and studied news reports that eventually revealed it wasn't true.

Then reality struck with the news that Anzack had gone missing.

As recently as a few days ago, "I didn't think Joe would make it, but I hoped for a miracle," Geraldo said.

On Wednesday about 5 p.m., not long after military officials had delivered the somber news to Anzack's family, Geraldo was told by a friend that Anzack's body had been found.

"I called a few people about it and learned it was true. But it didn't hit home until this morning," he said, when he was at a grocery store and saw a front-page newspaper article and photograph.

"The headlines hit me hard," he said.

Geraldo stared at the photo of Iraqis pulling Anzack's body out of the Euphrates River for about 10 minutes, stock-still on the sidewalk, he said. He played back memories of the times he and Anzack, as junior high buddies, played weekend war games in Geraldo's backyard.

He said they would sometimes dress in camouflage, devising attack strategies against imaginary enemies armed with paintball guns and BB guns. Usually the mock exercises culminated with "me and Joe wrestling and fighting on the lawn."

Geraldo said that he and Anzack parted ways in ninth grade but that "I joined the military for the same reasons he did -- to keep us free."

The memorial of American flags, dozens of candles and bouquets of flowers surrounds a sign that reads: "We love and miss you, Joe Anzack. You're our hero."

The memorial, about four miles west of the modest second-story apartment where the soldier's father, mother, relatives and friends have been grieving, "has become a central place for kids to congregate," said South High Principal Scott McDowell.

"This is a huge tragedy for the family and the kids who knew him," McDowell said. "Joe was a strong and quiet kid, and he had a tight circle of friends who played football and wrestled like he did."

Anzack graduated from the 2,300-student campus in 2005.

McDowell said the mood at the school was generally "very quiet, very reserved."

Until Wednesday, Anzack's father, Joseph Sr., expressed hope to the media for his son's safe recovery. A family friend said today that Anzack's parents were not ready to make a statement to the public.

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

The war will be over when the last invader leaves Iraqi soil. His death is a step in that direction.