
After 20 years in the Marine Corps, 1st Sgt. Edward Smith, 38, was ready to start a second career as a police officer in Anaheim, Calif.
He had been working as a part-time reserve officer for the department for three years and was named Orange County Reserve Officer of the Year in 2001. He had even won a plum assignment with a special tactical squad assigned to last year’s World Series.
Smith died Saturday in Doha, Qatar, from wounds received in action a day earlier in central Iraq.
“He was an unbelievable man … the best man I’ve ever known,” said his wife, Sandy, at a news conference at the Anaheim police station. With her, their children, Nathan, 12, Ryan, 9, and Shelby, 8.
Ryan tearfully said that when he needed help, his father was there....