GONZALES, JR., ELIGIO RICE
SP4, U.S. ARMY
Presidio County, Texas

Picture:

Medals:

Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, Heroic or Meritorious Achievement Medal, National Defense Medal, Rebuplic of Vietnam Medal and Army Commendation.

Biography:

Eligio Rice "Baby" Gonzales, Born April 30, 1947 in Marfa, Texas, attended the Blackwell School and Marfa High School. He was active in football, basketball, baseball, track, FFA and Dancing.

After graduation 1967, he was drafted ten days later into the Army, leaving his home, his family and his fiancé. He was only able to return home for one time for 31 days.

His mother remembers noticing that from time to time he would stand at the back door of the kitchen and look out towards the yard, the street and the neighborhood. She wonders if he was thinking, perhaps, that it would be the last time to look out and see his yard, his neighborhood. How hard it must have been for him.

He never told his mother he was leaving for Vietnam. He kept a journal that begins with the day he left for service. What a coincidence … on November 12, 1967 he left home for Vietnam, and exactly 27 years to the date the Permian Basin Vietnam Veterans' memorial is being dedicated to honor him and all the other young men who left there homes their families, their fiances, their backyards, and their neighborhoods.