When Javier played high school football, Erick and Derrick Moody, twin fullbacks, often blocked so Garcia, a running back, could race for the end zone. It was the same kind of drive and courage he would show in the Army. He went ahead of his men in the face of the enemy. Garcia survived a roadside bomb that exploded near his Humvee only to be hit by small-arms fire as he rushed to aid a wounded comrade. Garcia's cousin, Marine Pfc. Heberto Lorenzo, said Garcia was his role model. "When I go over there to Iraq, I know he is going to be watching over me". He was a member of the All City Ryders Car Club and was a Catholic. Survivors include his mother, Irasema Garcia (and husband Thomas J. Johnson Jr.); his father, Jesus J. Garcia (and wife Betty); his fiancee, Tabetha Garcia; five brothers, Thomas Cauley, Thomas James Johnson III and Demarcus Hollins, Alex Garcia and Noel Garcia; two sisters, Jessica Johnson and Latoya Cauley; his maternal grandmother, Marta Robaina; and his paternal grandmother, Raquel Mercado.

Army
1st Battalion
64th Armor Regiment
3d Infantry Division
Fort Stewart, Georgia

See his burial location here.