Carson City veteran celebrates 100th birthday
Submitted by Brett Fisher on Sat, 02/03/2018 - 3:28pm
Memories.
Sara Boogay Garcia has gathered a lifetime of them in the span of a century.
The United States Army and World War II veteran celebrated her 100th birthday Saturday at home with her son, Greg, and a special home-made chocolate cake commemorating the occasion.
Glenna Smith from U.S. Sen. Dean Heller's office paid a visit, too, giving tribute to the former nurse anesthetist and to award her with official recognitions from Heller, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, Congressman Mark Amodei, Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell, and the Nevada Department of Veterans Services.
Garcia's story began in her birthplace of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She later moved to and grew up in Brooklyn, New York.
She joined the U.S. Army in 1943 as a nurse anesthetist, whose job was to carefully administer anesthesia to patients undergoing surgery. She entered service with the rank of second lieutenant.
Garcia often found herself in the thick of the fighting at or near the front lines of the European Theater following the Allied invasion of Normandy. In fact, her unit landed at Normandy just a few months after the massive D-Day assault.
As the Allies steadily pushed further inland, liberating France on their way across the Rhine River into Germany, Garcia's unit followed closely behind.
She was at the Battle of the Bulge where Gen. George Patton's U.S. Third Army met heavy German resistance and was stalled for months before finally breaking through to make its final push toward Berlin.
Garcia, of Russian Jewish descent, cared for enemy as well as Allied troops alike coming off the battlefield often mangled or in pieces.
Before the end of the war, she had been promoted to first lieutenant and was offered a captain's commission in 1946. But Garcia turned it down, deciding instead to return home to civilian life in the United States, where she and her husband, Tony, looked to settle down and raise a family.
The couple moved to California and lived in the Bay Area for many years before relocating to Carson City in 1988.
Tony Garcia, who passed away in 2000 at age 92, had been a U.S. Navy veteran who served aboard both the U.S.S. Nevada and Arizona battleships a decade before Pearl Harbor.
Sara Garcia continued her work as a nurse anesthetist at civilian hospitals until 1959.
On Saturday she was delighted to receive a few select visitors, and recognitions from state and local dignitaries honoring her service to the nation.
Garcia looked intently at photographs pasted on a hand-crafted poster presented by the Nevada Department of Veterans Services, honoring her military service.
"I remember that," she said, pointing to a photograph of she and her friends taken at a cafe in Paris during the war.
Her son, Greg, showed her a photo of Garcia at a field hospital manning a Lister bag used for sterilization.
She smiled warmly as memories came to her, recalling with the fondness of someone whose life has been enriched by each one.
A century of giving. That is Garcia's life, and the legacy she has established for her loved ones.
Carson City wishes Sara Boogay Garcia the happiest of birthdays. May you have many more to come, Sara. Thank you for your service to country and community.
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