Alberto Garcia was born in Edinburg, Texas in 1950 and moved to California with his family when he was eleven. He received his draft notice when he was nineteen and decided to report a month early as he had already graduated high school and did not have any jobs lined up. He went to Fort Lewis, Washington on December 17th of 1969 and completed his eight weeks of basic training and advanced infantry training. From there, he was flown into Long Bien Airport in Vietnam where he was transferred out to his unit. Mr. Garcia ended up with an infantry unit in the central highlands. Not much still stands out to him today about the experience of first stepping foot in Vietnam, but he does remember being overcome with strange emotions.
Mr. Garcia’s assignment in his infantry base was to go out on patrols. He would spend seven to fifteen days patrolling the jungle before he was able to come back to, what they called firebases, and rest for about three days. While patrolling, they were also responsible for, again what they called, search and destroy missions and also setting up night ambushes. For nine months, Mr. Garcia spent a week and a half walking through the jungle and when he would get back to base, his fatigues would be completely shredded from the serrated blades of the elephant grass he had to continuously walk through. After those nine months, Mr. Garcia became sick with malaria and was in the hospital for two weeks. When he came out of the hospital, his infantry unit had already been sent home, so he was given the choice to go to another infantry unit or move to artillery. He chose the artillery.
When he got to the artillery unit, he was given the task of driving large trucks full of ammunition. These trucks were so large that he had to sit on a stack of books to be able to see over the steering wheel, which he still laughs about today. Pretty soon, he was called in by his commanding officer who informed him that his tour ended in a month where he would be sent home for a few weeks and then go to Germany. Mr. Garcia did not have any pressing desire to go to Germany so he was instead given the option to extend his tour in Vietnam for another three months. When his tour was over, he would receive and honorable discharge and be able to go home for good.
So, Mr. Garcia spent another three months in his artillery unit where he was given the title of ammo sergeant. He and five other soldiers would spend all day from the second the sun came up to when it went down driving after ammunition and cleaning and restoring weapons. He did like this considerably better than patrolling the jungle on foot.
On February 23rd of 1971, Mr. Garcia returned home from Vietnam. He proceeded to go to city college where he got a real estate license and did that for about three years until he opened a door business with his dad. He worked in the door industry for forty years. In 1991, he built a house next to his parents in Wilton, California where he still resides today with his wife Rebecca. They raised three children and are now hosting their three grandchildren there too.
Mr. Garcia is an active member of the American Legion Post 604 which is considered an ethnic legion. He discussed how hard it was for some Vietnam Veterans, especially those of a different race, to be able to join a group so they began creating their own. There are multiple different legions of different races in the Sacramento area. He was the past commander of American Legion Post 604 and is now holding the position of First Vice Commander.
When asked if there was anything he wanted the public to know about the war and America’s involvement, Mr. Garcia answered with, “Yeah, I think in general most of the guys that I was with I mean they had a call to duty and I think we kind of had a sense of loyalty to our country whether the war was immoral, good, bad or indifferent I think in general all of us were there because of a sense of duty.” Mr. Garcia and his fellow soldiers were called by their country to go fight and they did because it was their duty as an American citizen.
We ended the interview with the question, “Do you have any advice for future generations”? Mr. Garcia answered with my favorite quote from the entire interview, “Live every day, be happy for every day, and practice gratitude.” I believe this quote goes to show that if someone who fought in the Vietnam war can still live his life this way then we can too!
where he also teaches Tai Chi.
Audio & Transcript: Interview with Mr. Garcia
Additional Reading:
Particular Bravery by T. L. Derks
Artillery #7 (Illustrated History of the Vietnam War) by James Arnold
Tiger Mountain: Hispanics in the Vietnam War by Z. E. Sanchez