Respecting his wishes, Retzer's family will bury him at the Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery at Point Loma in San Diego. He had told his wife that he not only wanted to be buried beside fellow soldiers, but overlooking the ocean of his childhood.
Like Retzer, Andrew Chris was the son of a military man. In fact, he came from a long line of soldiers. His grandfather fought in World War II, his uncle was a special operations soldier in the Army, his father belonged to an Army airborne division and his brother Derek served in the Navy.
And although the men in his life died when Chris was young, he still felt a fierce determination to continue their legacy, Derek Chris said.
"He had a deep sense of duty and sacrifice," Derek said. Andrew, he said, devoured history books about wars and talked about one day becoming a history professor.
But Chris did not enlist in the Army after graduating from high school. He instead jumped at the opportunity to join his brother in California. And in San Diego Chris found a group of friends that would become like a second family to him.
The group often spent weekends camping in the desert. His former boss, Dennis Kaping, said Chris often hiked in the local hills during his lunch break.
Far from his family, Chris' friends took him to their homes for holidays. And having grown up without a father, Chris looked to the father of a San Diego friend, Jon Bailleul.
"He called my dad from Iraq, and my dad told Andrew how proud he was of him," Bailleul said.
When he did enlist in the Army, Chris was determined to become a Ranger, his brother said, not only for the personal challenge, but because of the bond Rangers have.
In fact, Derek looks back on the graduation ceremonies when he pinned the Ranger "tab" on his brother's uniform and the visit to their father's grave shortly after as a turning point in Chris' life.
"He really found a lot of peace in himself that day," Derek said of the visit to the cemetery. "He validated himself in the eyes of his family."
