Exhibit honors Vietnam's heroes from Texas

Jim Cruz made his way through the crowd that assembled in front of a wall of shiny military-style dog tags. He grabbed one, felt it, read the inscription and took a picture of it.

Cruz, 64, was one of dozens who made it to Saturday's premiere of the Texas Vietnam Heroes Exhibit at the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures, which included state Sen. Leticia Van De Putte and other dignitaries. The exhibit features commemorative dog tags bearing the names of the 3,417 Texans killed or declared missing in the Vietnam War.

?I don't have no hair, but what I do have stands up,? said Cruz, showing goose bumps on one arm and pointing to the memorial with the other. ?Those are the heroes right there.?

Cruz, who retired in San Antonio after 23 years in the Army, first photographed the dog tag of a man he never met, a favor for a woman who previously stopped him to shake his hand and thank him for his service.

?It was of her father. I told her I was going to blow (the photo) up big and bring it to her,? Cruz said. ?Now I'm going to take pictures of my buddies, the ones I was with ... who didn't make it home.?

He said he lost four friends from Texas in the Vietnam War, and 26 total from all over the country.

Each of the people in the memorial is individually represented by commemorative dog tags embossed with the name, rank, branch of service, home of record and date of death. Black dog tags honor Texans missing in action, such as Army Staff Sgt. Manuel R. Puentes of El Paso.

Don Dorsey, a sniper in the Marine Corps during the war, embossed the dog tags with the help of fellow Marine James Hart. It took about 400 hours.

?As I was doing it ... I had to wonder how they were killed,? Dorsey said. ?I got to introduce myself to everyone and learn a little about them. I could relate to some of them from their ages or where they were from. Some I knew from high school.?

?Emotionally, it is a closure we believe a lot of the families and veterans need,? said Jim Cisneros, whose brother, Roy Cisneros, was killed Sept. 11, 1968, defending his platoon.

Roy Cisneros has an elementary school named after him in the Edgewood School District. More than 50 of the district's students died or were declared missing in Vietnam.

Cisneros was awarded posthumously the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor, and Jim Cisneros said his brother's legacy lives on in the memorial.

?It represents the sacrifices of one of the most horrific wars in American history,? Cisneros said. ?What it represents to me is the courage of all of the veterans who sacrificed their lives.?

Albert Martinez, retired from the Navy, came to see the dog tags of two elementary school friends killed when the trio served in Vietnam: Basilio Gomez and Joe Pierce Jr. They were killed within a couple of months of arrival there, Martinez said.

?For me, I know where they died, but I don't know the circumstances,? Martinez said. ?I got their pictures in uniform and medals they won. But this is like holding their own real dog tags ... It's long overdue.?

The dog tags match a set to be entombed next year at the Texas Capitol Veterans Monument. The traveling exhibit was designed by Excalibur Exhibits' Eriq Moquin, whose father served in the Army in Vietnam. Valero helped bring it to San Antonio, its first stop, where it will be on display at the institute through August.

?I think it helps people get closure because they get to touch and feel and see, and tell their grandchildren, 'This was my war,'? said Robert Floyd, chairman of the monument. ?We hope that it will help in healing and let people across the state know that we're not going to forget about these guys.?

Source: http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/exhibit-honors-vietnam-s-heroes-from-texas-1.233771

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