Tears for Brooklyn son killed in 3rd Mideast tour

BY RAY SÁNCHEZ | Newsday Staff Writer

May 3, 2006

U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Bobby Mendez e-mailed his 12-year-old son Quentin a birthday greeting from Iraq the day before he died.

"It turns your stomach," his wife, Jennifer Mendez, said last night. "Our son turned 12 on the same day that his father died."

Mendez, 38, who was born and raised in Brooklyn and lived there until he joined the Army in 1987, died Thursday from injuries sustained after an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee in Baghdad.

It was his third tour in the Middle East. He had stints in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Iraq in 2003, and most recently, another tour there beginning in November, his wife said.

"One of the things he said before leaving was, 'How many times do I have to go back before something happens,'" she said from their home in Sierra Vista, Ariz. "He was there three times and some people in the military were never there."

In the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, where Mendez was raised, friends and relatives last night remembered the easygoing man.

"He was months shy of 20 years in the service," his cousin Helen Mendez said. "He got along with everybody."

A father of three children, ages 7, 12 and 13, Mendez, an intelligence analyst, was assigned to the 2nd Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division in Fort Hood, Texas.

"We had been keeping him in our prayers since we found out he was going to Iraq," Helen Mendez said.

Mendez, who was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division in 2002, had earned the Kuwait Liberation Medal awarded to soldiers who participated in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, according to Debbie Stevenson, military editor of the Killeen Daily Herald outside of Fort Hood. He also earned the Southwest Asia Service Medal with Bronze Star for meritorious service.

Helen Mendez said her cousin attended public schools, Epiphany Roman Catholic School in Williamsburg and Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers in lower Manhattan.

"All we know is that he was out on patrol when he died," Helen Mendez said. "He was friendly, very outgoing and easy to talk to. He's going to be missed by everyone who knew him."

A wake will be held Sunday in Sierra Vista. His funeral will be held Monday morning at the church of the military post in Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

"There are whole units that are taking time off so soldiers can attend his services," Jennifer Mendez said.