Antonio C. Garcia

**Actor** | Douglas Spain

Techinician Fifth Grade **Antonio C. Garcia** was a replacement for Easy Company and was put into Sergeant Denver "Bull" Randleman's squad.

## Biography

### Early Life

Born October 15th, 1924, Garcia was a native of Inez, Texas, and was a high school student in Cheyenne, Wyo., when he went off to enlist as a paratrooper. He borrowed a friend's prescription medicine to disguise a heart murmur during his Army physical and was accepted for training in 1943.

### World War II

With Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, Mr. Garcia served during the last two years of the war and participated in some of its most bloody battles. Like many veterans, he was reluctant to talk about the horrors of combat.

Mr. Garcia was depicted parachuting into the Netherlands, battling to keep a Dutch highway open for British tanks, pulling a wounded buddy to safety at the Battle of the Bulge and capsizing into a German river.

Some of those experiences shown in the miniseries were a bit exaggerated, according to Mr. Garcia's son-in-law John Heck, who watched the miniseries with his father-in- law at a family gathering celebrating Mr. Garcia's wartime service. "He understood that this was Hollywood," Heck said. "What happened in the miniseries is basically what happened. It wasn't entirely accurate, but it wasn't grossly inaccurate."

### Later Years

After the war, Garcia worked as a department store warehouseman in Colma, California for three decades. He and his wife Nancy had four children. In 1999, at the age of 74, he made a parachute jump as part of a reunion with his Easy Company comrades.

Garcia died on 18 August 2005 at Peninsula Medical Center in Burlingame after a stroke. He was 80. A memorial service wasbe held Sept. 30 at 12:30 p.m. at St. Dominic's Catholic Church, 2390 Bush St., San Francisco.

## Trivia

* In the miniseries episode The Last Patrol, Popeye was actually the one who fell into water and started screaming that he can't swim.
	+ Garcia was amused to find in the miniseries that his boat had capsized when crossing the German river and that his character couldn't swim, when in fact he had crossed the river safely and was an excellent swimmer.
* During the filming of the series and after it aired, Mr. Garcia became friends with Spain, who had portrayed him. Spain attended Mr. Garcia's 80th birthday party last year and visited him in the hospital after his stroke.
* Mr. Garcia enjoyed traveling across the United States with his wife. He read several books a week, largely about military history. In 1999, at the age of 74, he made a parachute jump as part of a reunion with his Easy Company comrades.
* He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Nancy, and by children Damian Garcia of Sunnyvale, Greg Garcia of South San Francisco, Stephanie Heck of San Jose, and Kelly Baskys of Boston.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Antonio-Garcia-paratrooper-Band-of-Brothers-2578295.php
2. ↑ http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Antonio-Garcia-paratrooper-Band-of-Brothers-2578295.php
3. ↑ http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Antonio-Garcia-paratrooper-Band-of-Brothers-2578295.php
4. ↑ http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Antonio-Garcia-paratrooper-Band-of-Brothers-2578295.php