Letters from Vietnam

By MOSTHistory Staff

On June 16, 2020, 90-year-old Edinburg resident Dolia González gifted the letters of her son, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Freddy González, to the Museum of South Texas History. 

The collection includes more than 150 letters from Vietnam between 1965 and 1968; they cover Freddy’s early days in the United States Marine Corps to the last days before he was killed in action in Hue City on Feb. 4, 1968.

Freddy’s letters express the voice of a young adult coming of age and thrust into the Vietnam War. Letter writing was an avocation for Freddy, a commitment he promptly revealed in 1965 when he began a letter-writing campaign directed primarily to his mother but included his grandmother and others from back home. The letters exhibit love and respect. In a two-sided letter dated Aug. 2, 1965, Freddy wrote to his grandmother in Spanish on the front of the page, out of respect for her mother tongue, and in English on the back. He said he’d been going to church “todos los Domingos.” He added: “hope you can read my Spanish.”

Freddy missed home. His letters chronicle a countdown to the end of his first tour, and he even kept a calendar where he crossed out the days as each day came and went. During his second tour, he counted down to his vacation time; on Jan. 26, 1968, he wrote to his mother, “I am going on R&R the 29th of Feb. to Hong Kong. Me and Sam Reyna are going together.” Freddy lost his life eight days later. It is not clear if Sam made it to Hong Kong that February. What is clear is Sam was killed in action on April 20, 1968. Like Freddy, Sam died at 21.

There is nothing spectacular in the letters Freddy wrote from Vietnam. Yet, there is an extraordinary quality in the love and devotion he displays for his mother, his friends, and his hometown. 

“How’s good old Edinburg,” he asked his mother in a March 30, 1966 letter. 

He often asked about his friends: Arturo, Margaret, Delia, and others. And on Jan. 24, 1968, he expressed shock that Victor Espinoza, a friend from back home, was killed in action. 

“Mother,” he said. “I hope all the people back home remember Victor, because he didn’t give his life for nothing…That’s how I want you to think.”

More than anything, Freddy loved his mother. He sent his paycheck to her every month, always accompanied by words of encouragement. He understood his mother’s struggle to make ends meet, so he used his letters to cheer her up and to tender support. 

He wrote in the same March 30, 1966 letter, “I am getting $145. Will send you $130.” 

Freddy’s valor on the battlefield was heroic, but his letters offer deeper revelations about decency, respect, love, and undeniable virtue. 

The letters were Dolia’s bedtime reading for more than 50 years, and a source of hope to share the heroic legacy of her son. The museum is honored to preserve these letters and Dolia’s legacy.