CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — When Juan Saenz came home from Vietnam in 1968, there was no welcome waiting for him.
On Wednesday, there was one at Veterans Memorial High School.
The Southside school held its annual Veterans Day Breakfast and Ceremony, inviting students to bring the veterans in their own families. The tables filled with veterans and their loved ones, many of them grandparents sitting beside their grandkids.
Saenz, who spent a year in Vietnam with the U.S. Army, remembers a very different homecoming.
“When we came back in ‘68, we were not welcomed back, you know,” Saenz said. “People will spit at you at the airport and call you baby killer stuff like that.”
He said the change is “a big difference.”
“I think it’s great for us,” he said.
Hugo Felix Ibarra came home from Vietnam two years later, after serving with the Army from 1969 to 1970. He said soldiers of that era felt like they were fighting two enemies: one overseas, and one back home.
This time, he said, walking into Veterans Memorial felt different.
“When you come in here all of them are telling you, you know, they’re welcoming you, so it feels good,” Ibarra said.
For Air Force veteran Eduardo Perez, who served four years in Thailand during the Vietnam War, the thank-you started the night before, when students put a sign in his front yard.
“Makes me feel good that I did something good for the country,” Perez said.
Veterans from several eras filled the room. Navy veteran Ray Perez served nearly 10 years, including time in the Persian Gulf in 1987, where he said his crew spent 156 days at sea without seeing land. He said he wants his granddaughter to know that history.
“We had to fight for our kids and our grandkids,” he said.
During the ceremony, the school recognized the veterans in the room for their service. For Saenz, simply being surrounded by fellow veterans meant something.
“It feels good inside, you know, to see other veterans, you know, that are still walking around,” he said.
Ibarra said days like this bring back memories, some good and some hard, and a reminder of those who never came home.
“We have to continue to honor the ones who didn’t make it and the ones who made it back,” he said.
Two of Ibarra’s grandchildren attend Veterans Memorial. Looking at the students around him, he said he sees the country’s future.
“Future is gonna be in the hands of these young kids that are willing to go into their own forces and defend this beautiful country,” Ibarra said.
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