Veteran recognized for heroic deeds says there's no place like the United States

MCALLEN – At 24 years of age, Roger Villarreal had a steady job in a bank in Port Isabel and was attending classes at Texas Southmost College. In the summer of 1968, the last thing he wanted to do was enlist in the military.

What a difference a few months would make in this young man’s plans.

“My best friend was gung-ho to fight the communists in Vietnam and asked me to enlist with him,” Villarreal said. “But he couldn’t talk me into it. I let him go alone.”

Adolpho Martinez Bejarano, 23, arrived in Vietnam on Aug. 26, 1968. Less than two months later, he was killed.

In November, Villarreal enlisted for a four-year stint in the United States Marine Corps in honor of his fallen friend.

He became a member of the India Company, 3^rd Battalion, 7^th Marine Regiment, 1^st Marine Division, serving as a rifleman and radio man, providing coordinates for air support.

Villarreal had been in Vietnam three months when he experienced hand-to-hand combat for the first time.

About six o’clock one morning, he and four or five others went on patrol. When they stopped for the night, Villarreal offered to take the first watch.

Pop-up flares lit up the sky, casting strange shadows all around. Villarreal had to be vigilant.

“In the distance, I saw a couple of guys, but because of the shadows, I couldn’t tell if it was some of our guys, so I waited and watched. When they came closer, I could tell by the size of their packs that they were NVA, but by that time I couldn’t fire my rifle because the sound of the safety switch would tip them off,” Villarreal said.

“So I held my rifle like a bat, clubbed the first one with it and then turned it around and fired toward the other one. By that time, the other guys in my patrol were up and firing, too, so I can’t say I shot the second one, but he was dead just the same.”

Villarreal paused for a moment, recalling the memory. He cleared his throat. “I was so proud of myself and thought that I had avenged Alphonso’s death; but that was just the adrenaline and my buddies patting me on the back.”

Villarreal was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal for his actions that night. The citation, signed for the Secretary of the Navy by H.W. Buse, Jr., Lieutenant General, USMC, Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, reads, in part:

“For heroic achievement while serving as a Rifleman ... On the night of 2, December 1969, Private First Class Villarreal’s squad was occupying an ambush site in the Que Son Valley west of Fire Support Base Ross when he alertly detected a hostile soldier advancing towards his position. ... Unable to ascertain the number of enemy in the immediate vicinity, Private First Class Villarreal courageously held his exposed position and delivered a heavy volume of rifle fire in the direction from which the hostile soldier had come.

“By his courage, bold initiative, and steadfast devotion to duty in the face of great personal danger, Private First Class Villarreal upheld the finest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.”

But Villarreal said he didn’t feel like hero in the aftermath. The next morning, he looked through the Vietnamese soldier’s belongings and opened his wallet. In it was a photograph of a young woman and child − the NVA soldier’s family.

“It hit me then that I had taken a man’s life, someone with a family who would never get to see him come home. His wife lost a husband and the little kid lost his father,” Villarreal said. “But he would have done the same to me.”

Villarreal saved the wallet for many years and still has the NVA soldier’s rifle, which hangs in his office at home. His mother urged him to burn the wallet and photos after he returned home.

 “Right or wrong. When I was sent to Vietnam I never − not for one moment − questioned why I was there. It was my patriotic duty to go and not ask questions; that’s the way we Marines think,” Villarreal said. “Would I do it again? Absolutely, even at the age I am now.”

After Vietnam, Villarreal served the rest of his tour at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, known simply as Twentynine Palms. Now, Villarreal helps organize a reunion for his company each Veteran’s Day in Washington, D.C.

A retired oil company executive, Villarreal now lives in a Houston suburb but often visits family and stays with his sister, Dora Brown, in McAllen. Brown told him about the upcoming LZ-RGV event to welcome home South Texas Vietnam Veterans.

 “When my sister told me there was going to be a welcome home ceremony, I felt honored. In 40 years, I have never gone to anything like it,” Villarreal said. “But I never have felt that my country owes me anything. There’s no place on earth like the United States of America.”

Villarreal and Carmen, his wife of 34 years, have two daughters. Sabrina Villarreal, 31, joined the Marine Corps after 9/11 and has made it her career. Their daughter Joy, 30, is a psychologist in Houston.