Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Cesar Baez, 37, San Clemente; Killed by Small-Arms Fire
Cesar Baez always wanted to be at the center of the action. As a Navy hospital corpsman, he first served in Iraq in 2003.
After his three-month stint, Baez went back to work in San Diego at the Naval Medical Center’s podiatry department, but the 37-year-old longed to be in combat tending to wounded soldiers. So when a second opportunity presented itself two years later, he volunteered without hesitation.
“I couldn’t convince him to stay,” said his wife, Rosanna Baez of San Clemente. “He wasn’t scared of anything. He was happy going over there, being miserable and being dirty. That’s what did it for him. It was exciting for him.”
While serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Petty Officer 2nd Class Cesar O. Baez was attached to the 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward). A dangerous job, he would follow Marines into combat, carry side-arms weaponry and treat medical emergencies.
Baez was killed June 15 by enemy small-arms fire in Ramadi, according to the Department of Defense. He had served nine years in the Navy, after four years with the Marine Corps. Baez had done tours in Australia, Bali and Okinawa, Japan.
Throughout his military career, he received numerous awards, including the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, a Combat Action Ribbon and Fleet Marine Force Ribbon.
Baez was eager to complete his duty in time to greet his fourth child due in September. The father of three young girls was finally going to have a son.
“He always wanted a boy,” said his mother, Bernardina Baez, 63, of Pomona. “But he always said as long as they’re healthy and have all their fingers and toes, he was happy.”
Growing up in Pomona, Baez was a mischievous boy who played practical jokes on his family and loved chasing after his siblings in their backyard, which they called the “jungle” because of its numerous guava and banana trees.
The eldest of seven children, Baez took pride in his big brother role and faithfully looked out for his family. A sketch that Baez submitted to a magazine contest won the youth four tickets to Disneyland -- but not enough for his entire family, his mother said.
“He told [the magazine] if his whole family can’t go, then he didn’t want to go, so finally they gave us nine tickets,” she said. “It was nice. I think it’s the only time we ever went as a family.”
Baez attended Garey High School in Pomona, where he played in the marching band. He later received a general equivalency diploma from Pomona Adult School.
He joined the Navy in 1996 and later that year met his wife, Rosanna, 32, at the Naval Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes, Ill., where the two were training to become hospital corpsmen. Baez eventually wanted to become a physician’s assistant, his wife said.
“He was funny,” she said. “He had a dry sense of humor. You had to know him to know he was joking and playing around.”
Rosanna Baez left the Navy in 1999 to devote more to time their family. The couple have three daughters, Isabel, 8; Sydney, 5; and Suzanna, 4.
A memorial service with military honors for Baez was held Monday at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, and another service was held Tuesday at Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church in Claremont.