Garcia will participate in America's Last Patrol Memorial Day celebration

by Alfredo E. Cardenas

On May 25, thirty-two years to the day from its first observance, America’s Last Patrol Ranch will celebrate Memorial Day at its headquarters in Duval County.  MCM Books’ author Ovidio Garcia will attend and share with his fellow Vietnam Veterans his experiences as presented in his book My War, My Art, published earlier this year.

As publisher of the Duval County Picture in 1986, I had the privilege of chronicling the founding of the Last Patrol Ranch by a group of Vietnam Veterans from San Diego. The purpose of the ranch was then, as it is now, to keep a focus on their comrades, classified  POW/MIA. In addition, it was then, as it is now, a place for “brotherhood.” As I described it in 1986, it was a place for many who “can’t, won’t and don’t forget the experience. It is welded into their psyche. It was beaten, burned, and shot into their young minds and it won’t leave it.”

Ovidio Garcia

In My War, My Art, Garcia presents his experiences in Vietnam through art, sketches, and paintings of events that, as he says, “are hard-wired into my brain and I still struggle with many unanswered questions. Why am I still alive when better men are dead?” He served two tours in Vietnam, as an airborne infantryman and paratrooper, one with the 101st Brigade from 1966-1967 and the other with the 173rd Airborne Brigade from 1970-1971.

Garcia asks about his experience “Why didn’t I get on the helicopter that fell out of the sky killing everyone on board, one of the worst Army aviation crashes? Was it ESP? I distinctly remember the premonition; I didn’t like the aircraft, didn’t like the way it lumbered, the way it maneuvered to land, slow and cumbersome. I considered the repercussions and disobeyed the order to board it. Thirty men died and I’m still alive. Why? On another occasion, due to my impulsive nature, I intentionally jumped between two enemy soldiers. I relive this event every day. How could they have possibly missed me? The ends of our rifle barrels were hitting each other. They’re long dead, and I’m alive. Why?”

Undoubtedly, many of the men at the Last Patrol Ranch had similar experiences and still deal with their aftermath fifty years after they happened.

At its first observance of Memorial Day in 1987, San Antonio radio station KONO had a live remote broadcast of the event. This year the guest speaker will be Col. Eloy E. Cuevas with the United States Army of Kingsville. The Patriots Band and Honor Guard from Corpus Christi will provide military music, the presentation of Colors, and a 21-gun salute and Taps. Additionally, some thirty names will be added to America’s Last Patrol Memorial Wall. Get directions to the Last Patrol Ranch below.

Garcia will be available to visit with his fellow veterans beginning at noon and will have books for those who would like to have one. The Memorial Day ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. followed by free food and refreshments. Several hundred people are expected at the event. In addition to Garcia’s book, My War, My Art, a limited number of books will also be available of Memories in Green, another book of Vietnam War reflections by Beto Conde published by MCM Books.

“I drew these artistic accounts because they remind me of experiences, which weigh heavy on me in a very unique way,” Garcia said. “I thought that they would never see the light of day, but after much encouragement from other veterans and non-veterans, and favorable results at many public showings, here they are, or resorting to a favorite phrase used in Vietnam to end a conversation “Dere it is!”