Retired Army Sgt. Maj. Benito Guerrero, 75, vice president of U.S. Military Veterans Parade Association
Hoodoo
By Elaine Ayala - Express-News
Web Posted: 06/20/2010 12:00 CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/obituaries/veterans_leader_guerrero_is_dead_at_age_75_96738289.html
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Benito Guerrero: He was hailed as “a soldier's soldier.”
Retired Army Sgt. Maj. Benito Guerrero, who earned numerous military
decorations during his 30-year career and became one of San Antonio's
most recognized leaders in the veterans community, has died.
Hailed as “a soldier's soldier,” he was praised for his service to
veterans as well as those still on active duty.
He defied Gen. Douglas MacArthur's adage about old soldiers fading away,
said retired Army Maj. Gen. Alfred Valenzuela, himself a force in the
veteran community.
“Benito Guerrero never faded away,” he said. “He was the top leader of
the veterans community.”
Guerrero died of pneumonia Tuesday in his native Gruene. He was 75.
The son and grandson of sharecroppers, Guerrero picked cotton as a boy
and dreamed of becoming a paratrooper. He once jumped off a roof
carrying an opened umbrella above his head, son Gregory O. Guerrero
said, noting: “He almost broke his leg.”
The Jefferson High School graduate and JROTC cadet joined the Army in
1956 and retired in 1986. In between, he and his wife of 49 years,
Ingrid S. Guerrero, went all over the world, raising two sons in the
Army. He served two tours in Vietnam.
In 1964, Guerrero was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division at
Fort Bragg, N.C. By '66, he was in the Panama Canal Zone, and by '68 he
was in Vietnam.
Wounded twice, he earned a Bronze Star with Valor Device and three Oak
Leaf Clusters, the equivalent of four Bronze Stars. He also received a
Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster as well as the Legion of Merit,
the Meritorious Service Medal and the Army Commendation with five Oak
Leaf Clusters.
“He was red, white and blue, through and through,” his son said.
Between tours in Vietnam, he taught at the Texas Military Institute. By
1971, he was advising the Vietnamese Airborne Division.
Until 1977, Guerrero was at the 5th U.S. Army Headquarters at Fort Sam
Houston. He then was transferred to Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
In the '80s, he was a military instructor at the University of Texas at
Austin and founded the ROTC program at what's now Texas State University.
Guerrero came home to serve his country in several ways. He was
commander emeritus of the Alamo Silver Wings Airborne Association,
directed the Bexar County Adult Probation Department's Zero Tolerance
boot camp and was president of Veterans against Drugs and Violence.
A member of several Veterans of Foreign War posts and a speaker at
veterans events, Guerrero talked to children and youths about the
importance of education and duty.
He was vice president of the U.S. Military Veterans Parade Association.
Each year, he and other old soldiers paid tribute to the Medal of Honor
recipients buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.
Among his friends were several recipients, including Louis Richard
Rocco, José M. Lopez, Roy P. Benavidez and Robert L. Howard.
Guerrero would appear at the funerals of servicemen and women killed in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
“There's not a single veterans group in San Antonio that doesn't know
what this man has contributed,” said J.R. Garza, commander of the Alamo
Chapter 5 for the Disabled American Veterans.
Guerrero often said his destiny was in his name —guerrero is Spanish for
warrior.
“He got out and served this community like no one has,” Valenzuela said.
“He was a little rough around the edges. He was a little bittosco
(rough), a little bitcabezudo (hard-headed), but I tell you what, under
that tough skin or whatever he had, he had the biggest heart.”
“Andava en todo menos misa (He went everywhere except Mass),” Valenzuela
said jokingly, adding, “God needed a good sergeant major.”
“Benito was an honorable, distinguished veteran, a man that only comes
around once in your lifetime,” Garza said. “Sergeant majors are people
who we, as soldiers, follow anywhere.”
“We look to them in battle to bring us home safely,” he said. “These
people were willing to die for us ... and we would do the same.”
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