By Juan Garcia
Local Author Gil Dominguez stood in front of an audience of students recently and held up what at first appeared to be a phone book.
“These are the names of the men who died in Vietnam,” Dominguez said. “But we always need to remember that these men were more than just names. These were men who wanted to start families … men who wanted to have careers when they got back.”
Dominguez, a Vietnam veteran, reporter and the author of the book “They Answered the Call: Latinos in the Vietnam War ”spoke to an audience of students, staff and faculty April 23 in Room 168 at Brooks City-Base Campus on the involvement of Latino soldiers during the Vietnam War. Dominguez will be graduating from Texas A&M-San Antonio in May with a Masters of Science degree in counseling.
The book, published in 2004 by PublishAmerica, is a collection of nonfiction articles written from first-hand accounts and interviews with Vietnam veterans.
Dominguez writes in the preface that he originally started as others had done, “letting the veterans tell their own stories in the form of first-hand accounts.” But many years had passed since Vietnam and key details from the veterans’ experiences were missing. Dominguez decided to write articles from the interviews, which allowed him to add context, including historical sections.
He said the book project began as a freelance article but after interviewing many Latino veterans the scope of the project changed.
“As I began talking to vets I came to realize that the subject of Latinos in Vietnam deserved something more,” he wrote. The book, he said, took him 20 years to complete.
Edward Westermann, visiting assistant history professor, arranged the presentation and invited Dominguez to speak to students.
“I hope that students see that opportunity is available to those who have a goal and are willing to work to achieve it.” Westermann said in an email. “Mr. Dominguez’s experience provides an example of the opportunities that education and hard work provide.”
Westermann said that he was very interested in his perspective on the war and the perspectives of Latinos on their experiences in Vietnam.
“Throughout the course of American history, wars and conflicts have shaped our political, social, and cultural values and have had profound economic implications for US society,” Westermann said. “For these reasons alone, it is crucial that we study and discuss the influence of these events.”
The book includes eight articles, each focused on a different veteran. “Six Hours of Hell” is the true account of Master Sgt. Roy Benavidez, a former migrant worker and school dropout who served two tours in Vietnam and earned a Medal of Honor. The book also contains a listing of Latino Medal of Honor Recipients, glossary and works consulted section.
During his presentation, Dominguez said that he was greatly influenced by the novel “Bloods: Black Veterans of the Vietnam War: An Oral History An Oral History of the Vietnam War” by Wallace Terry.
“I felt that Terry did such a great job of capturing the voice of the African-American,” Dominguez said. “It got me asking, ‘Where was the Latino perspective of the war?’”
This question, which Dominguez said was always at the forefront of his mind, would remain unanswered for several years. Hollywood’s depiction of Latino soldiers — often as gang members or drug dealers — would drive him to revisit the Latino perspective.
“The image of the Latino soldier was not a very good one,” Dominguez said. “In the film Hamburger Hill there was only one Latino soldier and he was a coward and a dope addict.”
Dominguez said that once he had attended a screening of the film “We Were Soldiers” at Fort Hood, Texas, located outside of the town of Killeen. The film, which focused on the Battle of Ia Drang, the first major battle that the United States fought in Vietnam, portrayed only Anglo and African-Americans soldiers.
After the screening, several Latino veterans who had fought in Ia Drang expressed their disappointment and annoyance of the missing Latino presence in the film.
“There was not a single Latino soldier on there,” Dominguez said of the film adding that he could confirm their contribution because he had interviewed them firsthand.
Eugene Bueno, who had attended to hear Dominguez speak, stood up at the end of the presentation and announced that he too was a Vietnam veteran.
“Welcome home,” Dominguez said, and the audience applauded.
Bueno said that he would never forget the smell the first time he arrived in Vietnam. When later pressed, Bueno said that it was the smell of dead bodies.
Math senior Luis Mireles, whose father was in the Air Force in Vietnam, said that he came to hear Dominguez speak because the war had made a personal impact on his own life.
Mireles said he wanted to come hear Dominguez to get an understanding of what it was like in Vietnam, adding that his father came back as a different person.
Although an emotional subject for some, Westermann said that students need to be aware of the importance the Vietnam War had on the country.
“Sometimes my voice breaks a little bit when I talk about this,” Dominguez said. “It’s still a very emotional subject for me.”
