First Sgt. Edward C. Smith, U.S.M.C (KIA)

Flags were flying at half staff in Anaheim on Monday as the city opened its heart for one of its own: Sgt. Edward C. Smith, a part-time reserve Anaheim police officer and full-time Marine was reported killed in action outside Baghdad.

"He was a big guy and he looked intimidating," Anaheim Police Officer Darrin Lee said of the 39-year-old Marine. "But he was very soft-spoken and seemed like a gentle guy. We're grieving; it hurts like we've lost one of our own family members. Somebody needs to talk about him because he's a hero."

John Nicoletti, a city spokesman, agreed: "There's a tremendous amount of pride, and at the same time a tremendous sense of grief."

For Smith, Iraq was to cap a 20-year military career. Hired by Anaheim in 1999 after graduating with top honors from Palomar Police Academy, the sergeant -- a member of the 2nd Tank Battalion, Fox Company, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force who led a company of more than 200 Marines -- was to join the Anaheim Police Department full-time on his return from Iraq.

A member of the department's special tactics detail, he had e-mailed fellow officers recently to tell them he was carrying his SWAT cap all the way to the Iraqi capital. Smith, a veteran of Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield who had been named Orange County's 2001 Reserve Police Officer of the Year, was one of nine Anaheim police officers deployed to Iraq and the only one to die. He is survived by his wife, Sandy, and three children, ages 8, 10 and 12, who live near Camp Pendleton.

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