Valley Veteran reflects on Vietnam War 50 years later

WESLACO, Texas (ValleyCentral) — This year marks 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War. Throughout the year, thousands of Veterans who served our country during that time have shared their stories, including here in the Rio Grande Valley. ValleyCentral spoke with one of those local Veterans who said he would do it all over again.

Felix Rodriguez was born and raised in Elsa, Texas, and always knew he would be in the military. Once he entered high school in the late 1960s, he began to pay attention to the conflict in Vietnam that the U.S. had entered.

“You go home after school and the news is on, Walter Cronkite is on and he’s talking about this place called Vietnam, and it’s all over," Rodriguez said. " I had no idea where that was at it was on the other side of the world.”

Rodriguez's father served in World War II, and he always strived to be like him. After graduating from Edcouch-Elsa High School in 1969 and briefly attending school at Pan American College in Edinburg, Rodriguez entered the draft to join the U.S Army. After completing his training in 1970, Rodriguez was deployed to Vietnam at his request.

“Personally, I didn’t feel like we should be there anyway. I was against Vietnam, but country called," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez was part of a team that intercepted enemy Morse code for U.S. soldiers in the field. But the toughest job for Felix was just staying alive. Only seven months into his deployment, Rodriguez endured a harrowing experience that has stuck with him forever.

“You can hear that mortar coming in," Rodriguez said. "All you heard was sheeeew!! And someone yells, 'In coming!'”

One night, an enemy rocket struck the bunker Rodriguez was sleeping in along with his fellow solider and friend Floyd Youngblood Jr. While the two soldiers weren’t killed by the blast, Rodriguez soon realized his friend was severely injured and bleeding rapidly. But Rodriguez said his training kicked in, and he was determined to get his friend out alive.

“He said 'is it bad Felix?,' I said 'yeah it’s bad,'" Rodriguez recalled. "He said 'Am I going to die?' I said 'No, you’re not going to die, I’m not going to let you die, I am here with you.'"

Rodriguez was soon able to stop Floyd's bleeding by applying a tourniquet. But Felix needed to get himself and Floyd out of the bunker that was on the brink of collapsing on them. With Floyd unable to walk on his own and gunfire pouring down around them, Felix had one shot to get him out.

“He gives me the other good arm and I said 'Now Youngblood, push!' And I pulled him out with one arm," Rodriguez said. "My guardian angel was with me.”   

While running through gunfire, Rodriguez soon joined by other soldiers carried Floyd to a chopper and airlifted him to safety all without the chopper ever touching the ground. As Felix watched the chopper fly off with Floyd, he would not see him again for a least 20 years.

“Later when I went and found him in Houston he said the last thing before I passed out was you, you saved my life,” Rodriguez said.

“We’re both hugging each other and we are both crying and Floyd goes 'I never got to thank you.' I said, 'Hey, man, you know we are brothers, you would have done the same for me.' He said, 'Yeah, but it didn’t work out that way, but I’m glad it was you who was there with me. All these years, I was thinking about you.'”

While Rodriguez still believes the U.S. should not have been involved in Vietnam, he is glad he was there when he was. Rodriguez is happy that he was there with his friend Floyd in that dire situation. Because of his quick thinking, Rodriguez was not only able to save Floyd's life but also the generations of his family that came after him.

After that meeting, Rodriguez and Floyd continued to be a part of each other's lives until Floyd's death in 2024.

Rodriguez started his own family after leaving the Army in 1973, but the transition back to civilian life had been a challenge even over half a century later.

Now living in Weslaco, Rodriguez has dedicated the rest of his life to helping other veterans from across generations. The main goal for Rodriguez and his fellow Vietnam War Veterans is to make sure the next generation of War Veterans doesn't have it as hard as they did when they came back home.

It’s the current brotherhood of Vietnam War Vets across the Rio Grande Valley that has helped them carry on since they are the only ones who can talk to each other about what they endured.

“A part of me, for all of us in Vietnam, a part of us is still over there," Rodriguez said. "Most of the Veterans that I speak with say the same thing, and we all feel the same way. We have this guilt that we came home alive when others did not.”

While Rodriguez believes our country is in turmoil for now, Veterans like him will still follow the one code they have always gone by.

“That code is that we leave nobody behind," Rodriguez said. " Long after where we can no longer wear the uniform of the greatest country in the world we will continue to live by that code until the day we die.”