Their whole family figured Ivan Medina had the tougher task, because he went in with the first wave of troops. Ivan survived his 11-month tour without incident. Irving wasn't sent to Iraq until after President Bush had declared victory. "We all thought we'd see him again," said his father, Jorge Medina , after Irving was killed in a grenade attack on Baghdad's streets Nov. 14, 2003. He was 22.
For Irving Medina , serving in Iraq wasn't just about fighting. It was also about making friends. In his time there, Medina befriended several Iraqi children. One was a 10-year-old boy the family knew as Safi. Irving sent his parents, brother and sister pictures of himself playing with Safi. The boy was later killed in a bombing.
Their relationship was only one of several fated aspects to the Irving Medina story. Another was Leslie. That name and the fact Irving had fallen in love with her while he was stationed at Fort Riley was all the family knew about her.
"He told me he was going to propose when he got back," his twin brother Ivan told the local newspaper in Middletown, N.Y. That was to be in March of 2004. "We all wanted to meet her. We knew nothing about her, but we loved her."
Then there was soccer. It was Irving Medina 's passion. He had played varsity soccer in high school in New York, and taught the game to local children prior to enlisting. He hoped one day to play for the Army soccer team.
Following his death, the Medina family set up the Spc. Irving Medina Foundation to give underprivileged children the money to pay signup fees and purchase uniforms for local soccer clubs. The foundation also hopes to offer scholarships to children who excel both academically and at soccer.
Information on both the foundation and its namesake may be viewed at a website created by the family to keep their son's name alive: www.spcirvingmedina.com
