In “Marine Sergeant Freddy Gonzalez, Vietnam War Hero”, author John W. Flores shares the account of a heroic Marine from South Texas who fought in Vietnam. Thanks to Flores, Sgt. Gonzalez’s important story will not be lost.

Gonzalez was a Vietnam War hero, and was honored for his sacrifice posthumously in 1969, receiving the Medal of Honor. An elementary school in Edinburg was named after him in 1975, and USS Alfredo Gonzalez, a guided missile destroyer, was christened in 1995 and commissioned at Corpus Christi in Oct. 1996.

He was a hero and a role model to the privates that served under him, and his story stands as a shining example of duty, loyalty, honor, and sacrifice.

Even though Gonzalez had served one tour in Vietnam, his sense of duty drove him to return for a second time. While he was killed in the line of duty during this second trip, his heroism lives on.

Flores explains how during a mission, Gonzalez was wounded twice by machine-gun and mortar fire. Even when he and his men were forced to take shelter behind a tank to avoid sniper fire, Gonzalez jumped out from his cover to save a private that was hit on the road ahead.

When a Navy corpsman appeared on the scene to administer aid, Gonzalez was ordered to evacuate via the medevac chopper. However, Gonzalez refused to leave his men. Gonzalez’s life came to an end when an enemy soldier fired a rocket at him, hitting him in the midsection.

Flores explains what drove him to write this biography. “It’s about values, really … That’s what is important for anybody, whether you’re in the Marine Core or a civilian. You have to have people in the military that have values and know right and wrong. They should be willing to put their lives on the line to save their people and comrades,” Flores said. “Those kind of personal attributes are what kids need to think about nowadays … They need to look at a guy like Freddy and understand that you can come from a financially poor background and do great things. It’s an inspirational story.”

“He was real loyal to his mother. He was loyal to friends and would defend them against people,” Flores added. “He did not like bullies. If somebody messed with one of his friends or say something about his mother, he would go after them even though they were bigger them he was.”

Author John W. Flores is from Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is a former reporter for several Texas newspapers, including the McAllen Monitor the Corpus Christi Caller Times and the Dallas Morning News. His new book was published by McFarland & Company, an academic press in North Carolina, who often distribute to colleges, universities and libraries. He began his career in journalism by writing for the Tarleton student newspaper The J-TACfrom 1983-1984.

“My first story for the J-TAC was in 1984 and it was about a place east of town where the Ag people were turning pig manure into natural gas,” Flores explained. “I earned about $50 a week as a staffer, and back then that was quite a big help. But that first byline, I was hooked.”