Hispanics in The United States Marine Corps - Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Marine Corps served an important role in the Vietnam War by participating in such battles as Da Nang, Hue City, and Khe Sanh. Individuals from the USMC operated in the Northern I Corps Regions of South Vietnam. While there, they were constantly engaged in a guerrilla war against the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF) and an intermittent conventional war against the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). The U.S. government did not begin keeping separate statistics on Hispanics until 1979. Therefore, the exact number of Hispanics who served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War era is unknown. The statistics that were kept by the Department of Defense, in accordance to the Vietnam War Statistics, included Hispanics among Caucasians. However, it is estimated that 170,000 Hispanics served in Vietnam and that 3,070 (5.2% of total) died there. This total includes those who served in the Marines. Of the 57 Medals of Honor awarded to Marines for actions during the Vietnam War, six were awarded to Marines of Hispanic descent, of which five were posthumous awards. The six Marines were Sergeant Alfredo "Freddy" Gonzalez, Major Jay R. Vargas Jr., Lance Corporal Jose Francisco Jimenez, PFC Ralph E. Dias, Lance Corporal Emilio A. De La Garza and Lance Corporal Miguel Keith. Of the 360 Navy Crosses awarded to the Marines, 19 were awarded to men of Hispanic descent.

Corporal Angel Mendez (1946–1967) was among the many men who volunteered to join the Marine Corps right after graduating from high school. He was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division on March 16, 1967 and conducting a search and destroy mission with his company when his company came under attack from a Viet Cong battalion. Half of a platoon was pinned down under enemy fire and Mendez, volunteered to lead a squad to assist the pinned-down Marines in returning to friendly lines with their two dead and two seriously wounded. Mendez exposed himself and opened fire on the enemy. His Platoon Commander, Lieutenant Ronald Castille was seriously wounded and he fell, unable to move. Mendez shielded him with his body as he applied a dressing to the wound, he picked up the Lieutenant and started to carry him to friendly lines, which were more than seventy-five meters away. Mendez was hit in the shoulder, yet he chose to act as rear man and he continued to shield his Lieutenant with his own body until he was mortally wounded. Mendez was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and promoted to Sergeant. Sergeant Alfredo "Freddy" Gonzalez (1946–1968) served two tours in Vietnam. He was the Platoon Commander of Company A, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, United States Marine Corps. On February 4, 1968, Sgt. Gonzalez and his platoon engaged the Viet Cong, who were holed up in St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Hue City, firing at the Americans with rockets and automatic weapons. Almost single-handedly, Sgt. Gonzalez neutralized the enemy with a barrage of LAW rockets. When it became quiet, it was thought that all of the Viet Cong inside the church had been killed. However, one had survived, and he shot and killed Sgt. Gonzalez.

On April 30, 1968, Captain Jay R. Vargas, who was the commander of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade, was sent with his men to an area around the village of Dai Do where two other Marine companies were in a battle with a North Vietnamese Army regiment. Even though Company G hadn’t slept for thirty-six hours, they went ashore at about one in the afternoon. The enemy attacked his men and had one of his platoons pinned down. Vargas went to rescue his platoon with a reserve platoon and was wounded by a grenade. He was able to take out three machine guns nests by himself before leading his men in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy soldiers in the nearby village.

He believed that he and his men had secured Dai Do and wasn't expecting a sudden massive counterattack by the NVA. Company G took cover in the village cemetery and the fight raged through the night. The next morning, the bodies of more than three hundred enemy soldiers lay near their positions. Vargas's battalion commander arrived on the scene and ordered a renewed assault on the village. He carried to safety a Marine whose arm had been severed, and when the soldier pleaded for his arm, Vargas went back and found it. When the battalion commander, fighting like any other rifleman, was shot in the back three times, Vargas dragged him a hundred yards to an evacuation point, firing at the enemy as he went with an AK-47 he had picked up on the battlefield. By the end of the third day of battle, the North Vietnamese retreated and Vargas finally allowed himself to be treated for a bullet wound in his side and shrapnel from mortar blasts.

Lance Corporal Jose Francisco Jimenez (1946–1969) was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. On August 28, 1969 his unit came under heavy attack by North Vietnamese Army soldiers concealed in well-camouflaged emplacements at Quang Nam Province. Jimenez personally destroyed several enemy personnel and silenced an antiaircraft weapon. He then maneuvered to within ten feet of hostile soldiers who were firing automatic weapons from a trench and, in the face of vicious enemy fire, destroyed the position. As he moved to attack another enemy soldier, he was mortally wounded.

Lance Corporal Jimenez was not the only Hispanic Marine from the 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Quang Nam Province. Three months later, on November 12, 1969, Private First Class Ralph E. Dias (1950–1969) a Rifleman with Company D, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, initiated an aggressive assault against an enemy machine gun bunker which was the principal source of hostile fire. He was wounded three times but, was able to crawl and throw a grenade which destroyed the enemy position before he was mortally wounded by another enemy round.

On April 11, 1970, Lance Corporal Emilio A. De La Garza (1949–1970), while serving as a machine gunner on a squad size patrol with the 3rd Platoon of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, was mortally wounded approximately four miles south of Da Nang by a grenade as he placed himself between the blast and two fellow Marines.

A month later on May 8, 1970 Lance Corporal Miguel Keith (1951–1970) a rifleman with the 1st Combined Action Group, III Marine Amphibious Force was seriously wounded when his platoon was under heavy attack from a numerically superior enemy in the Quang Ngai Province. Despite his wounds, he advanced on the enemy with machine gun fire, killing 3 of the enemy advancing on the command post and dispersing the others. He was severely wounded by a grenade during this charge. In spite of his wounds and loss of blood, he charged a group of 25 attackers, causing them to retreat for cover. He was mortally wounded by enemy fire. His actions contributed significantly to his platoon's success in routing the enemy.

Lieutenant Colonel Ramiro Saenz, graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1959. He served two tours in Vietnam and received the Bronze Star Medal with Combat V and other awards for his service in that war. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1979.

On April 23, 1975, President Gerald Ford gave a televised speech declaring an end to the Vietnam War and all U.S. aid. North Vietnamese tanks breached defenses on the outskirts of Saigon and the song "White Christmas" was broadcast, as the final signal for U.S. withdrawal. Master Sergeant Juan J. Valdez was the noncommissioned officer in charge of the Marine security guard detachment stationed at the US Embassy, Saigon. He had previously served from 1965 to 1967 with Company B, 3d Amphibian Tractor Battalion, attached to 2d Bn, Fourth Marine Regiment and was now on his second tour. On April 30, 1975, Valdez was the last U.S. serviceman to leave Vietnam, shutting the embassy gates and boarding the last helicopter out of Saigon.

The following nineteen Marines of Hispanic descent in the table were awarded the Navy Cross for their actions in Vietnam.

Women in the Marine Corps did not participate in active combat duty, most were assigned to administrative duties. In the case of Staff Sergeant Norma Alvarado of El Campo, Texas, who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1973, she spent three years as a drill instructor and depot inspector at the Women Recruit Training Command at Parris Island, South Carolina.

Joseph V. Medina attended the United States Naval Academy and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant upon his graduation in 1976.