Freddy Gonzalez — Medal of Honor

 Sergeant Alfredo Cantu Gonzalez (1946 – 1968), a Texas-American, was posthumously awarded the MEDAL OF HONOR for courageous conduct during the Battle of Hue (1968).

“Freddy” was born in Edinburg, Texas on May 23, 1946.  He was Dolia Gonzalez’s only child.  He attended Lamar Grammar School through 1955 and graduated from Edinburg High School in 1965.  Despite his comparatively small size, Gonzalez was an all-district football champion in high school.

He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in San Antonio, Texas, on June 3, 1965, but was discharged from the reserve forces and integrated into the regular Marine Corps on July 6.  In September, he completed recruit training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California, and in October, individual combat training at Camp Pendleton, California.

 Afterward, the Marine Corps assigned Gonzalez to the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, where he served as a rifleman with Headquarters & Service Company.  Promoted to Private First Class on January 1, 1966, he was transferred to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division for service in the Republic of Vietnam.  During this time, he served as a rifleman and a squad leader.  While in Vietnam, he was promoted to Lance Corporal on 1 October 1966 and to Corporal on 1 December 1966.  His tour of combat duty ended in February 1967.

Upon his return to the United States, Corporal Gonzalez was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  There, he served as a tactics instructor, emphasizing the techniques of guerrilla warfare.  During this assignment, Gonzalez learned that an entire platoon, including some men that he had served with in Vietnam, had been killed during an enemy ambush.  Gonzalez requested to be reassigned to Vietnam for a second tour of duty.

In May 1967, Gonzalez joined the 3rd Replacement Company, Staging Battalion, at Camp Pendleton, California.  After pre-deployment training, Gonzalez and the replacement company boarded an MSTS ship for transportation to Southeast Asia.  En route, the Marine Corps promoted Gonzalez to Sergeant.  After arriving in Vietnam for his second tour of duty, he was assigned as a squad leader and later, as the platoon sergeant, 3rd Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division.

During the initial phases of the Battle of Huế in late January 1968, Gonzalez and his unit were sent by truck convoy to reinforce beleaguered units inside the city.  When the convoy came under enemy fire near the village of Lang Van Luong on January 31, Sgt Gonzalez led his men in clearing/pacifying the area.[1]  Further down the road, he received shrapnel wounds while carrying an injured man to safety.

After the convoy continued moving toward Huế, it was again halted by enemy fire, in this instance, an enemy machine gun bunker.  Although wounded, Gonzalez led his men in an attack against the machine gun position, destroying it with hand grenades.  Eventually reaching Huế City, the 3rd Platoon engaged the enemy in heavy combat.  On February 3, Gonzalez was once more wounded, this time seriously, but he refused medical evacuation.

\On February 4, a large North Vietnamese force inflicted many casualties on Alpha Company 1/1.  During the battle, Sgt Gonzales employed anti-tank weapons to fire on enemy positions.  The next day, when a large North Vietnamese force inflicted heavy casualties on his company, Gonzalez directed the employment of anti-tank weapons against the enemy’s fortified positions.  He successfully checked the North Vietnamese advance at that location and silenced a rocket emplacement before being mortally wounded by a rocket.  Seriously injured, Sgt Gonzalez took cover in the Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Church, where he died.

Vice President Spiro T. Agnew presented Mrs. Dolia Gonzalez with her son’s posthumous Medal of Honor on October 31, 1969, during a ceremony at the White House.  Sergeant Gonzalez was laid to rest at the Hillcrest Memorial Park, Edinburg, Texas.

Honors

In 1996, the U.S. Navy named its guided missile destroyer (DDG-66) after Sergeant Gonzalez.  From the beginning, Freddy’s mother, Dolia, formed an uncommonly close relationship with the ship’s crew.  She attends many of the ship’s ceremonies, such as change of command.  Dolia has become, in many ways, the ship’s mother.

In McAllen, Texas, the Texas State Veteran’s Home is also named in his honor.  Additionally, Sergeant Gonzalez was awarded the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor.

Sergeant Gonzalez’s decorations and awards include:

            The Medal of Honor

            The Purple Heart Medal (3 awards)

            Combat Action Medal

            Presidential Unit Citation

            Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal

            National Defense Service Medal

            Vietnam Service Medal (4 bronze stars)

            Vietnam Military Merit Medal (equivalent of Vietnam’s Medal of Honor)

            Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm and Bronze Star

            Vietnam Campaign Medal (with ’60-‘ device)

Notes:

[1] Since the end of the war, the Vietnamese government has renamed many of the places where battles were fought.  The village of Long Van Luong may now be called something entirely different.  Of possible interest to readers, the North Vietnamese won the war (despite losing every major battle) because American Democrats in Congress gave their fellow communists in North Vietnam “a win.”  This was apparently okay with most Americans, including those who gave up their children to a war Democrats started and never intended to win.

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