by ANDY SEVILLA
He was a hard working man, always helping others and had a quiet exterior, though he was very excited to embark on a career with the U.S. Army.
Alfredo Lopez, Jr., whose family moved to Kyle from Eagle Pass when he was a young boy, began his tour of duty on April 4, 1968. He and his unit headed toward hostile grounds in the Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam.
He was honored this week in Kyle at a special Memorial Day service. City officials wanted to recognize the bravery and service of one of Kyle’s own. His family was present at the event to accept his plaque and give acknowledgements of thanks.
“We used to joke a lot, we cut up. After work, we did fun stuff — we played music in the evening and drank beer,” said Van Parton, an Army soldier who served alongside Lopez.
Van Parton and Private First Class Lopez were part of the communications detail at Camp JJ Carroll. There, Lopez served as a tactical wire operations specialist.
The Camp was the headquarters of the 2nd Battalion 94th Artillery, and was established to stop the North Vietnam Army, massed in the DMZ, from invading South Vietnam. Parton said they were the northernmost post.
Recalling September 10, 1968, Parton said they had been under attack all day. The hostility ended some time in the afternoon, but resumed at about 6 p.m. That’s when 21-year-old Lopez and another soldier, 19-year-old Harold Mosley of Cabot, AR., died.
“He used to write me letters from Vietnam,” recalled Lopez’s sister Martha Lopez-Delgado. “He would ask me, ‘Martha, please pray for me, I’m living in hell.’ I wrote back and told him, ‘I’m praying for you, everything will be okay.’
The Kyle City Council gave special recognition to Lopez in their Memorial Day proclamation this week. Council David Wilson, a Vietnam veteran himself, who pushed for Lopez’s acknowledgment, said it was the “right thing to do.” City officials awarded the Memorial Day proclamation to Lopez’s family, who were more than grateful.
“It was very touching,” Lopez-Delgado said. “It brought back so many memories and I wish my mom and dad could’ve seen it. I wanted my mom to know that her son was a hero.”
Lopez and Staff Sergeant Michael Rodney Dorman are the only two military persons who died in the Vietnam War and called Kyle home, according to the virtual wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Dorman began his tour on Aug. 29, 1968 and died at the age of 22 on April 25, 1969 in the Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam.
