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Manuel "Manny" Garcia died on November 26, 1967, and was laid to rest at the Fort Bliss National Cemetery. He served in the U.S Army. I remember Manny as a quiet, very nice fellow at school. He played football at the quarterback position. He was someone you could always count on to give his best in practice and in the game.
Farewell
Farewell to Thee! But not farewell
To all my fondest thoughts of Thee;
Within my heart they still shall dwell
And they shall cheer and comfort me.
Life seems more sweet that Thou didst live
And men more true Thou wert one;
Nothing is lost that Thou didst give,
Nothing destroyed that Thou hast done.
Anne Bronte, novelist, poet and youngest of the three Bronte sisters (1820 - 1849)
Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
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Robert Andrew Fernandez
I did not know Manny well in high school but after entering the Army I had the pleasure of serving with Manny. Like Klaus said, at Irvin he was a shy, serious young man. Manny and I entered the Army a couple of days after graduating. We were assigned to the same basic training platoon at Fort Polk, La. of 50 or 60 men (boys) that had volunteered for the paratroopers. Manny did well in training and was well liked by his fellow soldiers. Later that year in October (1963) only five or six of us showed up for Airborne School at Fort Benning , Georgia. Manny was one of the few. Manny and I separated and were assigned to different units after we completed our training. Sometime later I read a story about a paratrooper that had a failure of both his main and reserve parachutes. As he was falling to the ground to his certain death another jumper reach out and grabbed his parachute, saving the distressed jumper's life. The individual with the failed parachutes was Manny Garcia. In November 1967, Manny was killed in an automobile accident somewhere in the El Paso area. He was accompanied by Ramón Cruz of Anthony, NM. another one of the five or six that made it to jump school in October of 1963.