By Price Daniel
Special Report
NORFOLK
—The U.S. Marine Corps announced that former U.S. Coast Guardsman John Flores will receive the civilian Meritorious Service Award later this year for his years of research and writing about the lives of Marine Sgt. Freddy Gonzalez and his 80-year-old mother, Dolia Gonzalez, of Edinburg, Texas. He has also written extensively about the USS Gonzalez, a guided missile destroyer based at the Navy Base in Norfolk, VA.
On Aug. 14, the ship celebrated a change-of-command—Commander Brian Fort reported aboard in Feb. 2008, and is now being replaced by the first female officer in charge of the ship, Commander Lynn Acheson.
Last month, Ms. Ruchar Webb, of the Marine Corps Medals Incentives Board contacted Flores by phone at his home in Albuquerque, NM, he said.
“My wife finally admitted that she contacted the Navy Department in a letter about my work,” Flores said. “And the Navy Department sent her a letter last June stating they would pass her request on to the Marines.”
Flores’ wife, Rowena Flores, received a reply to her request for some type of recognition for Flores’ work, on June 5, from Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy Patricia C. Adams.
“…your husband’s achievements are commendable and merit consideration for a (Navy Department) or Marine Corps honorary award,” Adams wrote. “We have forwarded your letter and its contents to the staff at Headquarters (Marine) for review and consideration … (the Awards Board) will make the appropriate recommendation for the award level and approval authority.”
Ms. Webb told Flores he would be receiving the Meritorious Service Award from the Marine Corps for his work, but did not state a date for receiving it.
“It does not matter when or how it’s received,” Flores said. “What an honor this is to me. I spent some time on board the warship USS Gonzalez with the first crew at sea when the ship was en route from Norfolk to commissioning near Corpus Christi, Texas. That was 13 years ago this fall. The Navy flew me by helicopter from NAS Key West to the underway ship that was about 30 miles offshore. That got me started on the book about Sgt. Gonzalez, published finally in October 2006, exactly 10 years after my trip on board.”
Navy Captain Charles Stuppard, who is currently stationed at the Navy Yard, was in charge of all weapons systems on board the ship at that time. He attended the change-of-command, at Cmdr. Fort’s invitation.
“He wrote the foreword to my book,” Flores said. “We went through Hurricane Josephine in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and spent about two days in forty foot seas. We still laugh about that today. He even mentioned that in his foreword.”
The USS Gonzalaz celebrated a change-of-command on board at Norfolk on Friday, Aug. 14. Commander Brian Fort reported aboard in Feb. 2008 and is being replaced by Commander Lynn Acheson—the first female to take charge of the Arleigh Burke Class guided missile destroyer.
The 80-year-old mother of Sgt. Gonzalez was invited and flew from her hometown of Edinburg, Texas, for the event. She turned 80 on August 18.
“My son died 41 years ago, on Feb. 4, 1968,” Dolia said. “I lost my only child, and I still miss him, but when I visit the ship it’s like his spirit is alive here in the crew. I always call them my boys and girls.”
Commander Fort developed a special bond with Dolia during his tour as captain of the destroyer.
“His wife picked me up at the airport that last time I was invited, in the summer of 2008, to be there for the ship’s return after a long deployment,” she said. “They took real good care of me.”
Dolia was invited last year partly so the crew could meet her and help celebrate her 79th birthday.
Ed Sere, of New York City, is a publicist for retired Marine Corps Colonel Charles Waterhouse, who presented an oil painting to Dolia that he completed not long ago—a portrait of her son in his final moments during the Battle of Hue City.
Sere said Waterhouse has completed many portraits of U.S. military Medal of Honor recipients, over the years. The Waterhouse Museum in New Jersey houses these works.
Sgt. Gonzalez died defending his platoon as they were surrounded by North Vietnamese Army troops at the St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, in Hue City.
He gathered all the anti-tank rockets from about a dozen fellow Marines and ran to a vantage point above the raging battle, where he could get a good bead on the enemy. The portrait painted by Waterhouse correctly depicts Gonzalez crouching down as he aimed one last rocket at an enemy position.
“He had already fired almost all the rockets and silenced enemy fire,” Flores said. “Marine Corps General Ray Smith was his company commander and witnessed his death. He still feels strong emotions about what Freddy did for his men that terrible morning and the great sense of loss everyone in the company felt upon learning of his actions and hearing he was killed. They all looked up to him. He was just 21.”
General Smith, now retired from the Marines, said he will always look upon Freddy as a larger than life figure.
“I was his commanding officer, and he was enlisted while I was a lieutenant. I was a lot larger physically than he was—I think he was about five eleven and a hundred sixty five. All these years I always thought of him as a loot larger than me physically, then I saw a photo of us standing together while back and was surprised at the difference in our sizes … he will always be a big guy to me,” Smith said.
Flores included an interview with Smith in his book.
On Feb. 4, 2008, Texas Governor Rick Perry presented Dolia the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor at a ceremony in Edinburg, attended by Commander Alistair Borchert, who was CO of the USS Gonzalez.
The medal was presented at Bobcat Stadium, on the football field where Freddy played football for the Edinburg High School varsity squad in 1964. Coach Fred Akers was a young novice in charge of the team at that time. He would later move on to head coach of The University of Texas Longhorns. Flores interviewed him for the book as well.
“Freddy was not very fast, and he was not very big,” Akers said, wistfully remembering one of the most remarkable young men he ever coached.
“But he tried with every ounce of strength in his body. He gave a hundred percent on every play. His team spirit made everybody try harder.”
Doris Sanchez, press secretary for Texas Senator Eddie Lucio, said she remembers when Flores was working on the book in 2006 and he asked her how to go about getting the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor awarded to Freddy.
“He worked so hard on that, and if it were not for John, the medal would not have been awarded to Freddy,” Sanchez said. “When he called me I had not even heard of that medal.”
Sgt. Gonzalez was the sixth recipient of the Texas medal.
Flores served four years in the U.S. Coast Guard as a search-and-rescue crewman in New Orleans.
“It was sometimes pretty tough duty,” he said. “But all I got in the end was an honorable discharge, a Good Conduct Medal, and a kick in the butt from my old chief. And now the Marine Corps gives me this. A Marine Corps buddy of mine at the time, Wendel Hall, used to make fun of me for being a `shallow water sailor’. Wait till I show him the medal. He won’t believe it.”
Daniel is a freelance writer from Honolulu.