Mi vida issue 12

BEHIND THE WALLBy Ildefonso Garza

M i V i d aM i V i d a Magazine

SPECIAL VETERAN’SDAY EDITION

Oct. - Nov.2015

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MI VIDA MAGAZINE America’s Last Patrol Salutes its Hebbronville Heroes Page 2

MI VIDA MAGAZINE

A supplement of the Jim Hogg County Enterprise

304 E. Galbraith, Hebbronville, Texas 78361Copyright 1998 by The Jim

Hogg County Enterprise. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the express

permission of the publisher.

Entered as Second Class Matter at Hebbronville,

Texas under May 5, 1926, at the Post Office the Act of March 8, 1979, Second

Class Postage Paid at Hebbronville, Jim Hogg

County, Texas 78361.POSTMASTER: Send inquiries to

Jim Hogg County Enterprise304 E. Galbraith

P.O. Box 759Hebbronville, Texas 78361

Call (361) 460-9493 for information.

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[email protected] or at

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Publishers

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Painted on black velvet (an art form that originated in South China during the 5th and 6th centuries) the cover of Mi Vida Magazine depicts a Kashmir painting presented to Alberto and Genoveva Ibanez following the death of their son, Special-ist Fourth Class Alfonso Ibanez, while stationed in or around South Vietnam, Gia Dinh province. A resident of Alice, Texas, Jim Hogg County, Ibanez served during the Vietnam Conflict after enlisting in May of

1967. He is one of 10,112 casualties from the state of Texas dur-ing World War I, II, Korea and Vietnam and one of 5,860 fallen Americans from Texas enlisted in the Army during all of these wars and 18 from all states who died on 01-14-1968. He is the brother of Enterprise Co-Publisher Juanita I. Hernandez.

Hebbronville’s Luis Louie Almaraz in a picture collage taken while in Vietnam during his term of service from 1974-1975.

Abel E. Saenz (far left) and friends are pictured at the County Park Gazebo during a visit.


BEHIND THE WALL

Story and Photos by Ildefonso Garza

There is a mystery for those who frequently travel and pass what looks like an abandoned mili-tary airfield behind a barbed wire fence two-and-a-half miles northeast of Benavides.

On the top of the hill, on the southeast side of the fence, the very first thing that can be recognized is the American flag, which flies 24 hour a day seven days a week. This flag was raised on the first day the Last Patrol Ranch came into being and has flown since. The only time the flag has come down is when it needs to be replaced.

The second recognizable item seen from a dis-tance is the Army helicopter that was donated by the military. You will be surprised just how many pictures are taken there.

The third recognizable item from a distance is a newly built white chapel, still under construction. The final recognizable item are the telephone poles raised to support a metal roof that serves as a shaded area for guests during ceremonies.

In front of the shaded area, sitting on a caliche mount, a podium outfitted with speakers was con-structed for the announcer. Behind the speakers is a place for the Patriotic Band to play. This is where Commander Adrian Trevino (USMC/US Army), Judge-Advocate Arturo Pecos (USMC), Chaplin Samuel “Sammy” Espinosa (US Army/Airborne), and Adjutant-Treasurer Pedro “Pete” Vasquez (US Army special Forces), take the stand during cel-ebrations.

If you walk behind the caliche mount where the podium sits, you will come to a handmade chapel

built by members who share a religious belief in God and his church. Some people still light candles there. It is small but cozy, and you get there by fol-lowing a dirt trail to the bottom of the caliche pit. The chapel is decorated with old pictures, candles, old military memorabilia and statues.

To the immediate left and right from the shaded area, a white cinder block wall that faces the au-dience was erected to help support the inscribed bricks. On the opposite side are the veterans whose names are visible to all that venture there. The smaller wall to the right is for Medal of Honor Recipients, POW/MIA veterans and also for those killed in action. The other walls to the left are for the remaining veterans who are acknowledged for their service to the country with an inscribed brick placed on the Memorial Wall.

The bricks are issued by Erman Gutierrez (US Army/Airborne) during ceremonies. Vice-Com-mander Able “Pirri” Saenz (US Army) is in charge of the detail placing of the bricks on the wall and the posting of the flags.

Next to the wall is an empty spot where in the future the Memorial Wall is to be extended. With more and more veterans gaining interest in having their names added to the wall, the new additions will join our veterans, some dating back to the Civil War.

Then there is the famous helicopter. It is one of our main attractions and is the first thing one sees when driving up to the parking lot. A lot of pictures are taken there. Mr. Alberto Mendoza (USMC) takes care of it to ensure that it is ready for the crowd when needed.

Mr. Sam “Sammy” Espinoza, who served as any

Army para-trooper and now serves the Ameri -ca’s Last Pa-t ro l Ranch as Chaplin, helps to main-tain the heli-copter.

B e h i n d the helicop-ter you will find Mr. Joe Arevalo (Air Force) and his PX (post e x c h a n g e ) , where military items that include T-shirts, baseball caps with the Last Patrol Ranch log, and other items are sold. He is also in charge of selling raffle tickets for the benefit of the organization. Mr. An-dres “Andy” De Leon, Army, assists on certain occasions.

Going further southeast, you will see a large cov-ered area with picnic tables inside. This is called the Mess Hall, or Chow Hall, where our attendees line up to be served the finest food prepared beforehand by Emilio and Mario Garcia, Luis Nava and Steve Cothern, all of Kingsville, Texas. These plates are served by the member’s wives, girlfriends, and other volunteers who offer their help to the attendees.

If you want to go back and see the chapel up-

See WALL, Page 8


Eduardo AlanizBenito Garza Jr.Benito Garza Sr.Virgilio Contreras Franklin H. Wied

Leuin L. David Jr. Jose M. GonzalezRafael Antonio Perez

Tom L. Molina SPC John Trevino Jr.Manuel Diaz


Jesus N. Solis Jesus N. Solis Jr. Andrea C. Gonzalez Cesar Jaime Guadalupe Garza Julio Gonzalez Mario R. Fabela

Noe Almaraz Rafael Garza Jr. Rafael Ramirez Jr. Tomas Mendez Jr.Tomas R. Mendez Sr.

We Salute, Honor and Thank all our Past and Present Veterans

Alma R. SilgueroJustice of the Peace

Pct. 1

Julia HuffJustice of the Peace

Pct 2

Marissa M. GarzaJustice of the Peace

Pct. 3

Lucia C. DominguezJustice of the Peace

Pct. 4

Efran Salinas Horacio S. Ramirez


Rene G. Gonzalez

Fernando Herera Jose HerreraLuis G. Garcia Juan Herrera Sr.Juan Herrera Jr.

Alberto Canales

Norman E. Castle

Humberto Trevino

Teresita Castle Emilio Perez Jr. Dario Perez Ramon Henry L. Whitman Sr.

Samuel Vira Rodolfo R. Rosas Luis Felipe Salinas Nathan McRae

Oscar Cruz

Oscar L. Salinas Raul Rene Gomez

Wilber J. Whitman

Ildefonso Garza

Carlos Herrera

Roberto Hernandez Pablo Orlando Garza

Rene Mario Pena

Mauro R. Gomez Sr.

Jose A. Gutierrez Sr.


Alverto Garza Javier Soliz

Jesus Elic Salazar

Jesus Roel Garza

Jose Arturo Melo

Manuel Luna Jr.Marcos Hinojosa

Mario Benavides Sr. Natividad Nati Hernandez

Octavio Cruz

Roberto CantuReymundo Garza

Ovidio Chapa Oliden Ramos

Mike Hinojosa Jr. Ramiro Garza Jose J. Ruiz

Daniel Guerra Chester Calhoun Manuel Duran Arnoldo Manuel Duran Hector H. Garza Onofre Soliz Jr.Oscar O. Gonzalez

Ramiro Garza Luis Garza Ramiro Garza Jr.

Charles Lazusky

Mi Vida Magazine America’s Last Patrol Salutes its Hebbronville Heroes Page 8

Abel M. Saenz Jr. (far left, bot-tom photo and in insert, right) is pictured with members of the 2nd Platoon, 2nd Squad, 1st Air Cavalry Division #7.

close, there are some steps going up to-wards the podium (but stick to the right to get a view of the monuments, handmade crosses, cut-out sculptures [headstones] from different families). Once inside the chapel, you will see some religious items and paintings. If you wish, you can sit and mediate.

While the Chapel is yet unfinished, the work is being done as the donations come in. Next to the chapel, the Patriotic Honor Guard from Corpus Christi performs the 21-gun Salute and Taps.

Way behind the caliche pit you will see another American Flag and what looks like a shack in the middle of nowhere. That is an out-post, like the ones in Vietnam, where a soldier or soldiers would keep watch and lookouts for the enemy. This out-post was constructed by past Com-mander Ernan Gutierrez (US Army) and he maintains it himself. It is all within walking distance and has several points of interest to write home about.

Behind the Mess Hall and caliche pit,

there is a white metal building which is used for latrines/heads, which in civilian language translates to rest rooms.

Wherever you look, you will see that we are true Americans. You will see America’s flag, POW/MIA emblems, and the colors Red, White and Blue proudly displayed.

So, what was a mystery is now a welcome sight for anyone interested in America’s Last Patrol Ranch. It’s a place where one gets a feeling of the presence of our fallen fathers, brothers, sisters, uncles, cousins, friends and neighbors that at one time wore a military uniform and proudly served our country to keep our nation free, and all the present sailors and soldiers that are practicing and training to be ready for the next call.

WALL - From Page 3 ‘My friend! What you se on top of the hill is our home. The home of recognition; the home of the brave and unforgotten. It is known by vet-erans as The America’s Last Patrol Ranch.’

HONORING OUR HEROES ON VETERANS DAY


Honoring All Veterans Who Served Our Nation

501 N. Smith

Hebbronville, TX 78361

Business 361-527-3247

Fax 361-527-9191

e-mail: [email protected]

STORE HOURS

Mon - Fri 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.Sat 8:00 a.m. - 4 p.m.

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Mi Vida Magazine America’s Last Patrol Salutes its Hebbronville Heroes Page 10

A proud Morales family that served our countryThese military men

came from two well-known local families. Jose and Carmen Mo-rales and Ildefonso and Manuela Morales.

Both families were related, were very close, and proud of their chil-

dren. They all served in

different branches of the military and under different Commanders-In-Chief.

The younger genera-tion in each family fol-lowed the footsteps of their older brothers and

uncles.Both Morales’ fami-

lies also have third gen-eration soldiers and vet-erans who served our country. Two still work or serve the government and our military.

Joshua Mora les , grandson of Jose and

Carmen Morales, has been or served in many places in the world. He has been in Afghanistan and the islands at time of war.

Currently, the young Joshua Lee Morales (a Marine), the great-grandson of Jose and

Carmen, serves in South Korea.

From the Ildefonso and Manuela Morales family comes grandson Jimmy Johnson, also a Marine, and a third generation soldier who served in Iraq.

All in all, there were

twelve Morales family members that served in the military. Seven from the Jose Morales family and five from the Ilde-fonso Morales family.

All are descendents of Hebbronville, Jim Hogg County, Texas families.

Joshua Lee Morales Jimmy Lee Johnson Baldemar Morales Cirildo Morales Joshua Morales Jose Morales

Samuel Morales E.E. Chacho Morales Israel Morales Arnoldo Morales Eliseo Morales Eloy Morales Jr.

If you are willing to share your South Texas experiences or would like to share your family history, we ask that you address your stories to [email protected] or by mail to Enterprise, P.O. Box 759, Hebbronville, Texas 78361. Submissions should be no longer than 1,000 works and should contain at least one or two photographs along with accompanying captions. Previously printed material and/or photographs will not be accepted. All work must be original and contain the name of the author and source material. Thank you for reading Mi Vida. We look forward to seeing your stories.

recuerdos ...

Cirido HernandezPremont, Texas

Jose BarrierPremont, Texas

Manuel HernandezPremont, Texas

Elias H. MartinezPremont, Texas

Max Garza, Nicholas Garza, Ruben Garza and Ramiro Garza, the children of Cosme and Esperanza Garza of Falfurrias, Texas are pictured in uniform.

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THANKING ALL VETERANS for their service

COUNTY PHARMACY602 E. Galbraith St.

Hebbronville, Texas 78361

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Mi Vida Magazine Page 13From Our Readers

OCTAVIO SALAZAR RAFAEL RAMIREZ JR.HORACIO S. RAMIREZ

Rafael Ramirez Jr. has published a paperback book completing his docu-mentation of Hebbronville - “Thoughts and Senti-ments of Hebbronville, Book 2.”

Ready for publication in early 2014, the book’s printing was delayed for almost a year because of personal reasons.

On the subject of the Catholics, the book talks about the Scotus College, the first church, and Catholic education. The buildings, the businesses, the hotels of Hebbronville are featured.

In addition, many short stories and vignettes appear. The stories depict life in the early and middle 50’s, through the eyes of a former Citizen, who resided in Hebbronville then. The last section talks of the disappearing traditions and perhaps reluctant, but inevitable changes!

Local veteran completes paperback depicting life in Hebbronville

Octavio Salazar (1920-2010) was one of four brothers that included Tomas Octavio, Rafael and Miguel, who, during World War II, put their lives on hold to protect and serve our country.

They were fortunate because they were able to come home while others paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Octavio served with the 957 Artillery Bat-talion (155 Howitzer) and saw plenty of action in Europe. He helped liberate the notorious Nordhausen Labor Camp and saw the aftermath of the atrocities the German’s committed there, which affected and stayed with him for the rest of his life.

Like so many others, he was a young country boy who was sent across the world to fight for the freedom we enjoy today.

Four brothers who put their lives on the line to serve our country

Pictured in a wood-carved frame made popular in the late 40s and early 50s, Horacio S. Ramirez enlisted in the armed services in 1943 at the height of World War II, serving in the U.S. Army Air Force and credited with 64 combat missions in Italy, France and Germany.

During his military career, Ramirez went on to earn numerous and prestigious honors including the Croix de Guerra W/Palm (by General de Gaulle), EAME Campaign Medal W/3 Bronze Stars, and the Air Medal W/6 Oak Leaf Clusters (for gallantry).

In 1946, he was honorably discharged and returned to St. Mary’s University to pursue his education.

Three years later, in 1949, he married Angiolina Margo and began a dairy and farming operation at the San Pedro del Charco Redondo Ranch in Duval County.

He is remembered today for his service to the county serving as the first president of the W.C.I.D., County and District Clerk, County Auditor, and as County Judge.

Ramirez, who served three terms as Jim Hogg County Judge, was a delegate to the Democratic National Committee, attended the 52nd Presidential Inauguration in New York City, and served as Vice-Chairman of the South Texas Development Council and Chairman of STED Corp.

Mi Vida Magazine FROM OUR READERS Page 14

Central Furniture Store

Furniture, TV’s and AppliancesUtility Payment Station

Serving Customers for over 87 Years

Sergio and Mary Garza, Owners

512 E. GalbraithHebbronville, TX 78361

Ph. 361-527-3515 Fax: 361-527-5514

By Rafael Ramirez Jr.

November 2nd, the Day of the Dead (El Dia de los Muertos), is still celebrated in our culture and in many countries of the world. But because of the name, it is often mistakenly tied to our Halloween holiday.

In South Texas, remnants or pieces of these celebrations remain, while more and more immigrants are bringing back the entire belief, not many of those immigrants are relocating in Hebbronville.

Parts of these cultural festivi-ties includes making and eating sugar skulls, building altars, writ-ing calavera poems, performing dances as well as other rituals.

When the conquistadores introduced religion to the Aztecs, changes had to be made to include the pre-Colombian beliefs of the indigenous. El Dia de Los Muer-

tos (Day of the Deceased) or El Dia de los Finados (Day of the Departed), and is a celebration of both life and death and is a blend-ing of both Jewish and Christian philosophies and ideas.

Back in the 1800s and early in the 1900s, many families and de-scendants of the original settlers to our area of Jim Hogg County and Hebbronville, brought with them this celebration, which included spending the day at the cemetery visiting the graves of their relatives, chewing on fresh picked sugar cane, eating pan de muertos, and writing and pub-lishing calavera poems. Most of these settlers came from Northern Mexico and settled primarily in the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande) area and were first to establish and populate the region.

In the blog, http:scientiopia.Org/2010/11/02/, Calaveras pub-lished by Nammnezia, states that

Calaveras are fake obituaries of persons written in verse as if they had died. They satirize some as-pect of the person’s fate and usu-ally accompanied by a caricature of the person in skeletal form. They mainly satirize politicians or other popular figures. This cus-tom dates back about 100 years when Jose Guadalupe Posada, a journalist and artist, pioneered their use as political satire.

Las Calaveras is a strange name for a tradition that is sort of poetic. It can be literally trans-lated from Spanish to English as “skulls.”

In November of 2011, there appeared a newspaper article in The San Antonio Express by writer Victor Landa which ex-plains the Mexican tradition of Las Calaveras.

The claaveras, he says, are traditional satirical poems that are written in loose meter and rhyme in Spanish. There are several rules the writer must fol-low: they must be written about a person with significance to the

community, must poke fun, and tell the truth.

The calaveras sometimes describe how the subject dies, when death comes or a trait or hobby overstated. The tradition goes back to the 18th century ac-cording to Landa.

While researching the subject, a relative sent me a booklet in which many

Hebbronville Calaveras writ-ten in 1931 by a writer not identi-fied. Here are two - - including one about my Dad:Flores Muertas de Hebbron-ville

(Author Unkown)November 2, 1931Mi arrisgo fue demasiadoEn mandar esta oracionPero por tener miedo,Si duermen en el panteon.

Arturo GarzaEn su tienda se lo allaron,Muerto, con la cara fria,Por abrir entre la nocheLo mato una pulmonia.*Arturo Garza was a mer-

chant beloved by many people

because of his kindness and his willingness to help all citizens.Rafael Ramirez

El dia que fallecioSe escuchaba el ruido de mil

carros,Todos iban derechitos al pan-

teon,A llebarele a “Rafaelito” los

cigarros.*Rafael Ramirez never quit

smoking all his adult life.Traditions like calavera po-

ems are disappearing from our Hispanic culture here in Heb-bronville. Youth of this area have assimilated into the American society and follow trends that occur nationwide, and since we no longer depend on Mexico for our culture, we as parents have not insisted on keeping this tradi-tion alive.

Time has a way of erasing all traditions when they are no longer followed. The few knowledge-able people that are left must keep them going; if not, another Hispanic tradition will be one for the books.

The Calavera Tradition

Remember all who served this Veterans Day


The First National Bank of Hebbronville Honors our Jim Hogg County Veterans

OUR GOAL IS TO SATISFY ALL YOUR BANKING NEEDS

305 N. Smith Ave. In Hebbronville

Phone 361-527-3221Toll Free 800-268-1312Tele Bank 361-527-2637Bookkeeping 361-527-4040Fax 361-527-5451

Visit us at: www.fnbhebb.com

Honoring ourJim Hogg County

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MI VIDA MAGAZINE Page 16

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Mi vida issue 12