 News-Press.com -- A U.S. Army soldier from Cape Coral has died in Iraq after his vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, according to military officials.
 Spc. Manuel Lopez III, 20, was on street patrol in Baghdad when his Humvee was hit. The Army originally told his widow, Kira Lopez, on Tuesday her husband died of cardiac arrest. She didn't believe that explanation after hearing from friends in Iraq that a grenade may have been involved.
"I knew from my friends and their husbands that it was the grenade," she said. "I know the Army has to do everything by their procedures. I am glad I was able to find out sooner from the guys that were there."
Spc. Lopez worked for Delta Company repairing and maintaining communication systems. According to Kira Lopez, he was never supposed to see combat.
"He was supposed to be the guy behind the front lines keeping everything going," she said. "He was supposed to be well-protected. That's why it hit me so hard."
Kira was able to speak with Manny on the telephone regularly because of his communications job. She spoke with Manny at 2 a.m. Tuesday. It would be the last time she would hear his voice. Sixteen hours later she would learn of Manny's death when a soldier arrived at her place of employment at 6 p.m. Tuesday to deliver the news.
"We were talking about how I had to take our daughter to get her 4-month shots," she said. "He was gonna call me as soon as her shots were done."
Manny never called. Then, the Army called Tuesday afternoon to verify her address to make sure records were up to date.
Kira felt her heart sink.
"I knew then something was wrong," she said. "I just knew it. I kept checking the window all day. I didn't want to face it."
"Not him," she said, crying. "He wasn't supposed to go. Nothing was supposed to happen to him."
Kira said she and Manny were destined to be together from the moment they met at age 3 in New York.
"We were even born in the same hospital," Kira said. "Our fathers were really good friends and we used to play together.
"He always told me I was going to be his wife, but when I was little I thought boys were gross."
They drifted apart in middle school, but rekindled their friendship in high school and soon romance developed.
"All our lives we had the same goals of wanting to have a family and a home," Lopez said. "Now I've lost my very best friend. I will never find that again. Most people never get to experience what I got to with Manny, knowing that you were soul mates."
The Lopezes' friends say their love story is one you might see in a movie, the kind of love everyone hopes to have.
"There are no words to describe the love they had for each other," said Morgan Roessner, 22. "When you met them, you just knew they were meant to be together."
The couple wanted to get married, but Manny first needed the blessing of Kira's mother, Bobbie Francabandera, first.
"I told him he couldn't marry my daughter until he could provide for her," she said in tears. "That's when he decided to join the Army."
Manny joined the Army in March 2003. He married Kira on Aug. 22, 2003, then left for basic training in September. After basic training, Kira became pregnant with their now 4-month-old daughter, Isabelle. The couple then moved to Fort Stewart in Georgia in April 2004 and Manny left for Iraq in January, according to the family.
A memorial service for Lopez will be at 7 p.m. Monday at Kings Way Christian Center, 2016 Kismet Parkway, Cape Coral. Lopez's funeral will be in Haverstraw, N.Y., where his parents live. |
