BRENTWOOD, N.Y. _ Jose Ruiz was a 25-year-old computer network engineer with a promising future when he watched terrorists shake America to its core on that clear Tuesday morning in September of 2001.
Ruiz, of Brentwood, heard the call of service and enlisted in the Army. He went on to become specialist and a member of the elite Stryker Combat Brigade, where his heroism on the battlefield earned him nine metals, including the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
But on Aug. 15, 2005, two weeks before he was set to come home from Iraq _ and eight months after meeting his infant daughter Liana for the only time _ Ruiz died in a gun battle in Mosul.
