Page 94 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2025 - Online Magazine
P. 94
by Larry Williams
do to us, send us to Vietnam?”
Johnny joked. They didn’t even get
in trouble and flew on a commercial
plane to Nam on November 13,
1968. After refueling in Tokyo, they
went straight to Cam Ranh Bay for
in-country orientation. “That was
where we got our uniforms and
weapons. I stayed there for a week
before being assigned to B Battery,
2nd/77th Artillery, 25th Infantry
Division and sent to Cu Chi just
southwest of Saigon.
“We made seven trips into Saigon
during my time there. Later, we
were assigned to a fire support
base camp near Tay Ninh and set
ohnny Rodriguez grew up 1967. After basic training in Fort up our battery which was a 105mm
in the small town of Hobson, Polk, LA, I was sent to Fort Sill, howitzer with a seven-mile range.
Jsoutheast of San Antonio. His OK and attended artillery school By then I was a Staff Sergeant and
father Roman was a farmer and a for what was supposed to be eight a section chief with a crew of eight
rancher while his mother Matilda weeks. But I had an accident while men under me. The 105mm howitzer
had the daunting task of raising training on a self-propelled howitzer.
a family of fourteen, six boys and When I got out of the hospital, I was
eight girls. Johnny attended Falls put on clerical duty for three weeks
City High School where he excelled and had to start all over with another
as an athlete. “I played all the sports: class. Then I attended NCO (Non-
baseball, basketball, football and Commission Officer) school and
track. I was a hell of a running back AIT (Advanced Infantry Training) to
and a four-year letterman in every become a drill sergeant.
sport.”
After training new recruits from
After graduating in May 1966, September to November 1968,
Johnny headed to California. “I lived Johnny volunteered to go to
with my brother in Hollywood and Vietnam. “Three other classmates
attended Burbank Junior College. I went with me. After a 30-day leave,
married my first wife Grace in 1967, we reported to Fort Lewis, WA.
and we had four sons. I moved back We were there only six days, but
to San Antonio where I was drafted we went AWOL (Away Without
into the Army on November 13, Leave). What were they going to
94 Lubbock Senior Link
