Vietnam War Vet Dies in Mexico, Deported from the Country He Served JC Sevcik - UPI
go to original April 26, 2014

In Loving Memory of our brother Hector Manuel Barrios (U.S. Army Vietnam Veteran) - We will love and miss you, always. We march forward and homeward bound with your light and spirit in our hearts. It is an honor to have fought and served by your side. (Veterans Without Borders)

TIJUANA - Hector Barrios died this week. It’s okay if you’ve never heard of him. You have no reason to know who he is.

The short version: Hector was a decorated U.S. veteran who died abroad, impoverished and estranged from the country he loved and served, with none of the benefits entitled to him as a veteran.

Barrios was born in Tijuana, Mexico. In 1961, at the age of 18, he moved to the United States. In 1967, at the age of 24, he was drafted into the U.S. military to do his part for the war effort. He did not go back to Mexico or hide out in Canada. He did not dodge the draft or evade the call to duty. Hector spent a year in Vietnam, fighting for his adopted country.

“Every day incoming fire, everything, fighting - you didn’t know if you were going to come back home,” he says in an interview taken before his death.

Barrios was injured fighting for America, took head wounds in combat, but he survived the war and was able to return home.

“Thank God I came back. Many of my fellow soldiers didn't make it back.”

Barrios received the Army Commendation Medal for exceptionally meritorious service and his discharge paperwork listed him as a U.S. citizen. He earned his citizenship with blood and his friends say he was proud to be an American.

But the war wasn’t without its cost.

Read the rest at UPI

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