SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Retired Marine Louie Martinez still has a few things from serving in Vietnam in 1966. Letters, pictures, and two purple hearts earned from a serious arm injury and concussion. What’s not as visible is his PTSD and Parkinson's caused by chemicals used in warfare. Those also lasted through the decades.
“So you would do it all over again?”
“Yes,” Martinez said.
“Why?”
“Because I’m crazy.”
At the age of 18, Martinez says he led search and destroy missions, and often checked for bombs on local roads. Those operations gave him multiple near-death experiences.
“All of a sudden you see bombs going boom boom boom. It was a daisy chain. Next thing I remember is waking up, and there was a father over me. He was doing the sign of the cross. I told him I'm not going yet.”
Martinez says after the war he was elated to return home to San Diego, but the welcome wasn't so warm.
“Some people said that we were baby killers," Martinez said. "Some things you couldn’t understand unless you were there.”
In 1972, Martinez found solace at the Don Diego VFW in Barrio Logan.
“I walked in and woah, what a difference you know? I felt they were caring.”
Decades later and Martinez still shares that understanding with these other American heroes. It’s why they will always gather on march 29th.
“What is the importance of National Vietnam War Veteran Day?”
“Recognizing us, recognizing what we did. Giving gratitude to those that came back and those that didn't.”
So this Vietnam War Veteran’s Day, thank a service member, because you never know what they carried home.
