CARROLLTON, Texas — The “Wall of Honor” is just inside the entrance to American Legion Post 597 in this Dallas suburb’s historic downtown, an alcove covered with pictures of dozens of local service members killed in recent overseas conflicts.
Now, they have another: U.S. Army Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, killed in an Iranian strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on July 17, according to the Pentagon.
Russ Ganzer knows some of the others memorialized on the wall. The retired fishing guide didn’t know Gonzales, but said he’s a father of six, his youngest daughter just four years older than Gonzales.
“Any loss of life is terrible,” Ganzer, 65, said. “But when it’s your hometown, it hits you. Especially when they’re so young.”
The death strikes close for many in this diverse, politically divided Dallas suburb of about 135,000, which last lost a member of the military at war 16 years ago. Gonzales is one of 18 U.S. service members to have been killed since President Donald Trump ordered the first strikes in late February, four of them since the ceasefire collapsed July 7. Her death has prompted people here to reflect on the necessity of a war that has divided public opinion from its inception.
Gonzales attended nearby Hebron High School, where she served in Junior ROTC and wore a U.S. Army stole to graduation last year. She enlisted last spring, was assigned as an air and missile defense crew member to the 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Ansbach, Germany.
“We’re just so proud of her. We were very proud of her when she went in and she paid the ultimate service,” said her mother’s aunt, Elizabeth Muniz, 58, of La Feria, Texas.
Gonzales’ mother declined to comment via text this week. John Norsworthy, 62, an Army veteran who served in Korea and now commands the American Legion post, is supporting Gonzales’ family. Norsworthy said an American Legion auxiliary member working with the family told him Gonzales’ mother wants to ensure her daughter is remembered.
Gonzales’ family flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the dignified transfer of her remains on Wednesday. They were joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Trump, who was making his third appearance at Dover since the war started.
Carrollton lies mostly in Denton County, a conservative but rapidly growing and diversifying suburb where Trump won 56 percent of the vote in 2024. Some here support the Iran war, but as national polls showed this month, there is widespread opposition, including among some Republican Trump supporters.
“Iran is a major mistake. I personally think he’s gotten us into another Vietnam,” said Ray, 83, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam. He declined to give his last name while having a beer at the American Legion bar because he said his opinion is unpopular there.
A self-described independent conservative raised in a military family, Ray said he voted for Trump in all three presidential elections, but has since soured on him, comparing him to former president Lyndon B. Johnson.
“Like Johnson, he keeps talking about a ceasefire and blowing his cool,” Ray said. “Every time we stick our nose into something, our people are going to get hurt. Going into it, you have to think: Is it worth it?”
Nearby, Steve Pike, 70, whose daughter is an Army sergeant, said he became upset this week when a friend accused Trump of having killed Gonzales.
“They are heroes. They knew what they were getting into and loved this country as my daughter does,” said Pike, who voted for Trump. He insisted the conflict is necessary to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and that he expects it will likely end soon.
At Carrollton’s Armed Forces Career Center in a nearby strip mall, Army recruiter Sgt. First Class Arnaldo Rivera said the Iran conflict has not deterred recruits, but it has shaped their questions.
“They ask if they’re going to have to deploy, and they ask about my experience,” said Rivera, 38, who enlisted at age 18, deployed the following year and served in Iraq.
Standing outside the office in front of a blown-up photo of a Latina soldier, Rivera said many young recruits sign up to help pay for their education. He emphasizes to them that even if they don’t train for combat, they could end up in a combat zone.
“At the end of the day, it’s their choice,” he said. Just then a 27-year-old man who works at a local pizza shop walked up and they went inside to discuss his options.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico provoked online debate during a packed Dallas town hall on Monday when he insisted Gonzales “was sent to serve in a reckless war that no one asked for.”
“We are closing schools and hospitals in this country so we can bomb schools and hospitals in other countries. There is never enough money for education and health care but there’s always enough money for war,” the state representative said.“Our gratitude for her service should not be mistaken for an acceptance of her death.”
The crowd applauded.
GOP state Rep. Mitch Little condemned Talarico’s speech in a post on X, accusing him of “trying to score cheap applause lines at a rally off of a real family’s grief.”
“Isabella wasn’t ‘sent.’ She volunteered for her duty station,” wrote Little, who represents the area where Gonzales’ family lives. He visited the family Sunday to pray for her mom, who, he told The Washington Post, was “devastated” but surrounded by family.
Little’s post provoked nearly 200 comments, many from Texans with strong views on the conflict in Iran.
“Let her family grieve. Let her family decide if they want to talk about their daughters service. This should be their decision, not any politician’s!” wrote a woman who identified herself as a Texas military wife.
But another Texan, who identified as a 30-year military veteran, faulted Little for “feigned outrage” and Trump for causing Gonzales’ death.
“It’s a stupid war & we’ve known for 40 years what Iran would do,” he wrote. “Trump ignored prudent advice, people are dying & he’s destroying our relations with the world. She paid the price.”
Maria Ramirez, 86, a retired teacher who describes herself as a moderate who voted for Trump three times, lives down the street from Gonzales’ family.
“Nobody wants these wars and the loss of service members. It’s tragic to lose a young life like that,” Ramirez said, but added that, “those conflicts are there and they have to be dealt with. I have faith in our president and our government.”
Most who spoke to The Post at the American Legion post this week said they supported the war in Iran, but that their support was not unconditional.
Drew Smith, 54, is an Army veteran who served in the Balkans during the 1990s.
“Do I want us to keep being in wars? No. But I think it had to happen,” said Smith, who voted for Trump three times, adding, “I don’t want us to have boots on the ground.”
Others in Carrollton condemned the conflict in Iran.
“When I heard about Gonzales, it just hit something in me. I’m not against wars where we’re defending American lives, but I feel their lives are being wasted,” said Thach Ngo, 31, an independent raised in Carrollton. “I look at the history of warfare and get the sense this might be spiraling out of control.”
Walking through Carrollton’s memorial park for veterans, Michael Meine, 32, said he had considered joining the military like many of his high school friends. But after talking to a recruiter, he discovered his asthma disqualified him and he became a bartender.
A self-described “gun nerd,” Meine said he used to be a centrist but has become a left-wing libertarian during the Trump administrations. He condemned the Iran war as “incredibly stupid,” fueled by the “military industrial complex.”
“We need to do everything we can to end the conflict,” he said, wearing a U.S. flag cap. “Americans have died. When does it stop?”
He said the federal government needs to do more to support the working class dealing with health care and other rising costs.
At a downtown coffee shop, Briana Jackson agreed.
Jackson, 34, a marketing manager and mother of two from the Rio Grande Valley whose father served in the Army, said she recently got into an online debate with a childhood friend about the war in Iran.
“Why? Why are we at war? What is the reason?” Jackson, a Democrat, kept asking.
Her friend cited concern that Iran would obtain nuclear weapons, but Jackson said that’s been a threat for decades. She’s more worried about the economy and other domestic issues.
“When can we take care of problems at home?”
Gonzales is expected to be buried at a veteran’s cemetery in North Texas, although her funeral has yet to be scheduled, Norsworthy said.
Afterward, he and city leaders are planning to hold a vigil and to erect a memorial for Gonzales, either downtown or at the Veteran’s Memorial, maybe both.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Daisy Palomo, whose son is deployed overseas, said “As a mom, today, we mourn alongside those who knew and loved her.” Mayor Steve Babick, raised in a military family, issued a proclamation honoring Gonzales.
“It’s so important that we never forget,” Babick said.
As they left, “taps” echoed through Carrollton’s city hall.
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