Fort Lewis soldier dies in Iraq violence

THE OLYMPIAN, NEWS SERVICES

Sunday, March 6, 2005

A Fort Lewis soldier who died Friday in Iraq would have celebrated his 12th wedding anniversary next week.

"Everything he did was done with pride and humor and he was my best friend and the love of my life," his wife, Gabby, said in a prepared statement released by Fort Lewis late Saturday. "We now laugh and we cry because he was a good, fun man and there is no one who knew him who is not going to miss him."

Solorio, 32, was serving with the Recon Platoon and was a member of one of Fort Lewis' Stryker brigades. He was the father of two sons, Julian, 11, and Max, 8. All lived on post.

"My husband loved his family, me, the Army and his country," Gabby Solorio said in the statement. "His family and his country were his pride. When he found out his deployment to Iraq was coming, he did not hesitate. It was a just cause for him to fight for his country. ... He died with his boots on, and we would have had it no other way."

He viewed serving on the Stryker team as a privilege, she said.

Before deploying to Iraq in October, Solorio served as a sniper instructor at Fort Lewis.

He loved adventure and had a close relationship with his family, said his younger brothers, who live in Dallas.

An avid outdoorsman, Juan Solorio used his free time to camp, hike and rock climb with his brothers.

He was a Cub Scout leader and assistant scout master, his wife said.

"His pastimes were his children and his family, which included brothers, parents, many cousins and aunts and uncles throughout Texas and Mexico," she said.

Juan Solorio joined the Army after graduating from Dallas' magnet high school for the health professions, where he learned to build crowns and dentures. He decided to make the military his career.

While in Thailand, Solorio tried local dishes made with insects and snakes and then shared the experience with his brothers.

"When it came to food or trying new things, he was doing it," said his brother, Gerald Solorio Jr., a 30-year-old eighth-grade science teacher in Dallas.

In addition to Thailand, Iraq and Washington state, Juan Solorio had been based in Hawaii and North Carolina.

"Every time he would see the transfers, he was thinking new training," Gerald Solorio Jr. said.

Through e-mailed words and photographs, Juan Solorio shared stories about Iraq with his brothers. In one e-mail, he told them of seeing the area where, according to the biblical story, Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

"He looked at the historic significance, not just an area of conflict," said his 27-year-old brother, Fabian Solorio.

In another e-mail, Juan Solorio included a picture of him with an Iraqi soldier, telling his siblings the people of Iraq "needed to have the support so they could defend themselves."

Anabelle Garay of the Associated Press contributed to this report.