HARLINGEN – Oscar Fonseca remembers an old veteran struggling to stand at a Veterans Day ceremony years ago.
Fonseca, 38, was in the eighth grade, but the man with his cane made a powerful impression on him.
“I realized, ‘Wow, it took him a lot of energy just to stand up,’” Fonseca said. “At that point I realized, ‘Hmm, that means something to him. It really does.’”
Fast forward to April 6, 2004, when Fonseca, now an English teacher at Harlingen High School, returned home from his first deployment to Iraq.
“I’ll never forget that day,” said the Lyford native. “I arrived back in Ft. Hood, we got off the plane, and they took us to a gym. Our friends and family were there, all of them.”
While he and his unit stood in formation, the national anthem began to play.
“That right there is where it hit me,” he said. “That’s when I realized, that Veterans Day is about thanking those that said, ‘I’ll volunteer, I’ll go,’ when they didn’t have to, and they did.”
That’s probably what all veterans are thinking today, and so much more.
In years past, Veterans Day highlighted the sacrifices of World War II veterans and those who served in the Korean War. Later, it recognized the service of those who fought in Vietnam.
Only a few of our World War II veterans remain for us to honor. Some Korean War veterans can still be seen marching in parades or attending Veterans Day ceremonies like those taking place throughout the country, and Vietnam veterans still have a strong presence.
But these troops have now been joined by a new generation of veterans serving in a very different theater. For decades, the American public watched evolving news stories about conflict in the Middle East and could see the possibility of the United States becoming involved in warfare there.
Those fears were confirmed in 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait, a close ally of the United States which was strongly reliant on that country’s oil.
America responded quickly, and that’s when Mario R. Gonzales was deployed with his field artillery unit. He’d only been in the Army about three years in 1990 when he was deployed for Desert Shield and then Desert Storm.
The young soldier, now an Army instructor for the JROTC at Harlingen High School, was excited to be a part of something that big and put his training into use.
“I think I went three days without sleep because I wanted to see it all,” said Gonzales, now 54. “My adrenalin was pretty high, and I didn’t want to miss anything. I wanted to be part of the whole thing. We were the first ones over there.”
He recalled first deploying to Saudi Arabia without anybody knowing at first. They were armed and ready to go in, waiting patiently for two or three months before receiving their orders to enter Kuwait.
“The air attacks started and from there we went into the ground attack,” he said. “The adrenalin was really high. Everyone was really excited. Everybody was pumped up, everybody wanted to get going and once we were there things were going all over the place.”
He recalled an enemy that was visibly overwhelmed by all the air and ground fire that had been leveled at them. After 30 days of bombing, they surrendered in droves. He remembered Iraqi soldiers climbing out of foxholes waving T-shirts, and they were directed to fall back to the rear and surrender to MPs.
Farther in, Iraq’s Republican Guards were better trained and put up stiff resistance, but even so the media began calling it the 100 hour war.
“It was very well-executed, probably the best strategy in military history,” he said. “Schwarzkopf did a really good job of making sure that we were going to go in there, and we were going to take care of business and that’s exactly what we did.”
Gonzales went on to build a life for himself with his wife and four children, one of whom is currently stationed at Ft. Bragg, South Carolina.
But he remembers on this day and on all days the friends and comrades he lost in that conflict 30 years ago. And as instructor at HHS, he urges his students to understand the meaning of Veterans Day and the importance of service and duty.
“It’s a celebration for those that are still alive,” he said. “What’s important is that the kids are educated about what a veteran is. It’s important that they understand the sacrifices, not only of the soldier, Marine, Navy, the airmen, but of the families who go through a lot as well.”
