Antonio Recio

A Green Beret has met his faith. My father’s life was the real American dream. He was born in a small village in north of Mexico, close to Saltillo, Coahuila Mexico and with only a 3rd grade education, he dreamed of going to the US. He came across the border, illegally, to help support his bothers, sister and parents. After being deported, yes deported he was granted a pardon and received a visa to enter the US. He migrated to the US and found work like many other migrants, working in the fields. Sleeping in hen houses or in barns.

When he entered the US with his visa, the Border Patrol agent asked him several questions including his age, my father answered, “I am 17 years old” and noticed the Border Patrol officer write something down on his visa, but my father had no idea, what the officer had written on his visa. After arriving in Junction, Tx and working there sometime, my father met other workers / migrants, he asked them, if anyone could read English and asked if anyone knew what the Border Patrol officer had written on his visa.

One said, “I kinda can read English”, let me see your visa. He told my father; it says on your visa that you must join the military at 18 years old. So my father did not want to go back to Mexico and thought, that if he didn’t find a way to join the US Military, he may be deported again to Mexico, so he decided to see the nearest recruiter, which was a US Army recruiter.

Now mind you, my father only had a 3rd grade education in Mexico, he somehow passed the test to get into the US Army! How did he do it? Well with the help of the US Army recruiter, that’s how! Thanks to that recruiter’s monkey business, my father joined the United States Army and was happy, that he didn’t have to return to Mexico and the rest, my friends is what’s called history.

He joined the US Army and retired after serving 24 years in the military. 24 years, not bad from a kid with only a 3rd. grade education. He enlisted in 1956.

He was sent all over this world while in the US Army, France, Germany, Vietnam (2), Panama, Japan, all through South America to train allied soldiers, Cambodia, Cuba, and many other countries, not to mention many top secret missions, that even he was told where he was going until he and his group were about to jump off an airplane or helicopter!

He was with the 82nd Airborne.

He was a member of the 8th Special Forces / Green Beret.

(Special Forces are the guys everyone pretends to be in movies, like Steven Segal, Stallone Rambo, he k even John Wayne portrayed a Special Forces / Green Beret in the movie, Green Beret, these soldiers, the Special Forces are simply the best of the best!

President Kennedy recognized the need for a strong unconventional warfare force to combat communist insurgencies, leading him to prioritize the development of Special Forces and he also authorized the Special Forces to wear the green beret, which became a symbol of their elite status and commitment to fighting behind enemy lines.

This is who my father was.

He also did 2 tours in Vietnam.

He had a long, distinguished career, receiving many accommodations, for instance, The Bronze Star and many more.

He was instrumental in training the Ranger Battalion that captured Che Guevarra in 1966.

Towards the later part of his distinguished Army career he was a US Army Recruiter, until he retired in 1974.

My father never spoke to is about his many experiences with his military service. He never, ever spoke about the war. We learned a lot about his military service from pictures and articles wrote about him in newspapers and Special Forces magazines and books. There are pictures and articles about him at the Special Forces museum in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

He is survived by my mom, his wife, daughters, sons, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.