It was the last time she would ever hear his voice."He sent an e-mail afterwards because the line was terrible," said Moore’s wife Raquel from her home in Los Fresnos. "We had a terrible (telephone) connection."
The Brownsville Herald -- LOS FRESNOS — U.S. Army Maj. Horst Gerhard "Gary" Moore called his wife Sunday to wish her a happy birthday. It was the last time she would ever hear his voice.
"He sent an e-mail afterwards because the line was terrible," said Moore’s wife Raquel from her home in Los Fresnos. "We had a terrible (telephone) connection."
Three days later, she was greeted by Army personnel who told her Gary Moore, 38, died Tuesday in Mosul, Iraq, in a mortar attack.
The major is the second Los Fresnos resident killed in Iraq and the ninth from the Rio Grande Valley. A 10th Valley soldier was killed in Afghanistan.
"I still can’t believe it’s real," said Raquel Moore, 34. "I’m still thinking I’m going to get a call and somebody is going to tell me something differently."
The major was redeployed to the Middle East in September after serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom when the war began in March 2003.
"He was proud to serve his country," Raquel Moore said. "Like anyone else, I’m sure he had his fears, but he was one of those dedicated individuals proud to serve his country, willing to help the Iraqi people."
The major had served in the Army 17 years and was considering retiring in about three years when his tour of duty ended. He was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., but Army officials were unavailable Wednesday to confirm his company assignment or officially confirm his death.
Gary Moore is the first Valley soldier in more than two months to die in Iraq. On Sept. 6, 19-year-old Army National Guard Spc. Tomas Garces of Weslaco was killed in an explosion south of the Baghdad International Airport.
Los Fresnos’ first casualty in Iraq was Army Spc. Edward John Anguiano, 24, who on March 23, 2003, was in a six-vehicle convoy on Highway 7 that was ambushed near Nasiriyah — four days into Operation Iraqi Freedom. Anguiano was the last soldier unaccounted for when the war ended and his body reportedly was found near the ambush site.
Gary Moore will be buried in Brownsville, his wife said. Funeral services are pending. It will take between seven to 10 days for his body to arrive in the Valley.
Raquel and Gary Moore met in the early 1990s while attending St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.
It was "friendship at first sight," Raquel Moore said. It later turned into love.
They married in 1996.
The military had allowed Gary Moore to take off a few years to attend college, she said. He received a degree in international business and accounting.
Raquel Moore said she was informed of her husband’s death Wednesday morning by two members of the U.S. Army. It was her day off, and she was preparing to spend the day with the couple’s 2-year-old daughter Sophia.
"It’s not the kind of news you want to hear at 7:30 a.m.," her brother Jesus Vallejo said from the couple’s home.
Raquel Moore said she had been concerned about her husband’s safety and had not been sleeping well.
When her husband would e-mail her, he would keep the conversation light, as not to alarm her, she said.
"He was always optimistic with us. … (He) didn’t want to worry us too much," she said.
Gary Moore sent her photographs of him standing in one of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s palaces and another photograph of him on a camel.
"He was just a dedicated father and very devoted. … He was very proud to serve the country," Raquel Moore said.
She recently deleted e-mails from him to make room in her file for more e-mail correspondence from him. She didn’t know they would be the last she would receive.
And while Raquel Moore mourns her husband’s death, she asks that everyone continue to pray for the troops in harm’s way.
"He would want everyone to continue to support the troops," she said.