Tuesday, November 22 2005 @ 03:12 AM MST
Contributed by: River97
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 www.chicagotribune.com
A Villa Park man who had joined the Army earlier this year and who had proposed to his girlfriend just weeks ago was killed in Iraq over the weekend.
Pvt. Christopher M. Alcozer, 21, signed up because he wanted to defend his country and family, said his younger brother Adam.
"He was a person of good and strong morals," he said. "He went to fight for his family and what he believed in, not the administration."
Alcozer was killed Saturday in Mosul, a city in northern Iraq, where his unit, part of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, was attacked by forces using small arms and grenades, according to an Army spokeswoman.
Alcozer's team was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment. The team, known as the "Arctic Wolves Brigade," is based at Ft. Wainwright, Alaska.
His father, Jesse, was also a combat veteran and was wounded in the Vietnam War, according to several family members.
"Knowing Christopher, he wanted probably to follow his father," said Esmeralda Alcozer Laskin, a cousin. "The only thing that brings closure here is that heaven has another angel."
The viola was a lifelong interest of Alcozer, his brother said. He also loved wrestling and spent four years grappling on the mats at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park until he graduated in 2003.
"He had a unique honesty about him, kind of an innocent honesty," said Bryan Murphy, who was his coach there.
"I remember him telling me he was going into the military, and I was shocked by it, but I was proud of him also," Murphy said.
Alcozer's aunt, Grace Mendoza, shared that sentiment.
"He was the last person I would ever expect to go into the service," she said.
Mendoza said her nephew had studied music for a year at Northern Illinois University, where his fiance is a student.
Alcozer proposed to her earlier this month when he was in Chicago on leave from Iraq.
Murphy said Alcozer was a quiet young man who wrestled at both 152 and 160 pounds and was always willing to practice his holds one more time.
"He worked real hard every day," he said. "He's what makes up high school athletic teams--solid good guys like him."
At least 62 Illinois soldiers have died in hostile fire as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to the Department of Defense.
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I would like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for our Country. And to your family, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy.
A grateful citizen