Grenadier: Gene Vasquez, M/3/7 Marines, Vietnam

Eugene "Geno" Vasquez went to Vietnam in 1967. Assigned to Mike Co. 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, he met up with his unit as they were being relocated to the Dai Loc district to help in the defense of the Da Nang rocket belt. The 7th Marines were strung out along Charlie Ridge to their north between Dodge City and The Arizona territory with the mission of aggressively patrolling the rice-rich rural areas seeking to locate and interdict enemy units and rocket teams from attacking the local villages as well as Da Nang. Assigned to 3rd plt. of M/3/7, Gene's base camp located on Hill 52 was the westernmost marine unit in I Corps, and their time from spring 1967 up until Tet Jan. 1968 was spent isolated in that area patrolling constantly. Gene Vasquez was assigned the M-16 rifle which he despised and when he was offered the job of Grenadier he jumped at the opportunity. The grenadier carried the M-79 grenade launcher and was instrumental in supporting rifle squads in contact during the Vietnam War. The time Gene spent in Vietnam, approx 10 months was almost always aggressively patrolling the same valley and mountains, and many if not most of the casualties suffered by Gene's squad were from the always present boobytraps which killed or maimed a substantial number of Marine casualties of 3/7 during 1967. The constant patrolling took a mental toll as the unknowns of enemy ambushes and boobytraps required a constant state of alertness. Gene would not complete the 13-month tour before his number was called on Christmas Eve 1967.