Family mourns Elsa airman who drowned in Japan

ELSA — The Garza family learned their hero was gone Saturday evening.

U.S. Air Force officials arrived at the Elsa family’s front door to tell them 21-year-old Rudy Garza went missing off Okinawa island in Japan. Authorities were waiting for daybreak to begin their search for him.

“They said he went swimming with friends,” said his sister, Nallely Garza.

A rip current pulled her brother and his friends farther out to sea as they swam near a rocky beach. The six others were able to make it back to land, but Rudy Garza couldn’t overcome the current.

“I guess it was too strong,” his sister said.

An Airman 1st Class when he died, Rudy Garza had enlisted in the Air Force in March 2008 after he left the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg. He wanted to become a mechanical engineer and worked as a mechanic while in the Air Force.

The Japanese coast guard found his body Sunday morning.

Relatives said he had been stationed at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa since September 2008. He was supposed to come back to the Rio Grande Valley in December to celebrate his birthday, Christmas and New Year’s Day with his family.

“I guess we don’t cry because we don’t believe it — the way he left us,” Nallely Garza said. “Now we have to wait for the worst part — for him to get here.”

Air Force officials first told the Garza family that his body would arrive home as soon as Friday. But they learned Wednesday that he probably won’t make it back for another week.

Grief-stricken family members sat together in their Elsa home Wednesday afternoon. Nallely Garza said she and her family take solace in knowing that Rudy Garza is in heaven with his father, who died in April 2004.

“He wanted us to think he was somebody in life,” Nallely Garza said of her brother. “We’re real proud of him.”

Zavala Family Funeral Home in Edcouch is handling the funeral arrangements for Rudy Garza. He is set to be buried at Highland Memorial Park Cemetery in Weslaco.

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Jared Taylor covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.

If you’re caught in a rip current:

>> Don’t fight the current.

>> Swim out of the current, then to shore.

>> If you can’t escape, float or tread water.

>> If you need help, call or wave for assistance.

Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration