Soldier from Roxbury killed in Iraq
Friends, family mourn aspiring math teacher
They called him Superman. He could outrun pit bulls on neighborhood streets and lift hundreds of pounds over his head. When his car flipped over three times on a highway, he pulled a shred of glass from his eye and calmly walked away. He even dressed the part, filling his closet with Superman T-shirts and sleeping under Man of Steel bedsheets.
But on Friday, the family and friends of Army Sergeant Joan Duran, 24, of Roxbury, received word that the man they considered a superhero had been killed in Iraq when a bomb exploded while he was picking up supplies.
Duran, who was born in the Dominican Republic but moved to the Boston area as a toddler, was due home in November after four years of service in the Army, family and friends who gathered outside Duran's Regent Street apartment said yesterday.
He was planning to become a college math teacher, buy a new house, and finally marry his fiancee, Andrea Silva, 17, of Woburn, said Remy Peña, one of his close friends.
"He was a hero. He always had passion for everything he did," said Peña, 26, a friend since childhood whom Duran called Batman. "Whether it was tennis, carpentry, or cooking, he was always the best."
Silva, who became engaged to Duran last year, said Duran was "the nicest guy I'd ever met."
"He was very loving and we were perfect for each other," she said.
Duran entered the military just a few months after graduating from Boston Latin Academy in 2003. In school, he was an outgoing, straight-A student who juggled jobs at the New England Aquarium and Abercrombie & Fitch, Peña said. He was a star on the field, earning top honors in football and track.
"He'd make you feel motivated," said another friend, James Lena, 19. "Everything he did was perfect."
On his MySpace Web page, decorated with a collage of Superman figures, Duran described himself as "spontaneous, delightful, and crazy all at the same time."
"I'm not much of a talker but I'm funny at times and other times just plain goofy," Duran wrote.
Duran could be obsessive about pleasing his friends, Peña said. He memorized birthdays and anniversaries. He spent hours carefully picking out presents that would suit his friends' interests perfectly, Peña said. He loved surprises, and would not say when he was coming home on breaks from his service, instead showing up unannounced and showering his friends with gifts.
He was serving as a sergeant in the 82d Airborne Division of the Army. Juan Valdez, 23, a Marine who carpooled with him from their bases in North Carolina to Boston for holidays, said that Duran enjoyed the excitement of combat and quickly gained the respect of his colleagues.
"He was the type of person that even if he had just met you, even if two days from now it was your birthday, he'd get you a card," said Valdez, of Hyde Park.
Duran did not discuss his experiences in Iraq with friends, Lena said.
"He didn't want to speak about it. It was never about him. It was always about everyone else," Lena said.
In videos he showed friends of his time in Iraq, Duran's fellow soldiers seemed to consider him a role model and trusted him with the base's finances, Peña said.
Duran was in his second Iraq tour, said a family friend, Andrea Kelly. Kelly, a registered nurse, was present when military officers notified the family of the death. She said Duran was very close to his mother, who collapsed when she heard the news.
"He was a sweet kid. He was way too young to be there," she said. "He was in a family that cared for each other and took care of each other. It's just terrible."
The family plans to hold a memorial service for Duran after his body is flown to Boston this week. They expect to send the remains to the Dominican Republic for burial.
Even years before his death, Duran was nervous that something might happen to him. He asked his friends to make sure his casket was emblazoned with symbols of the two countries he considered his own, the Dominican Republic and the United States, to match the tattoos on his shoulders.
Javier Hernandez can be reached at jhernandez@globe.com. 