Vietnam veteran receives honorary diploma from Rio Vista High School

Nov. 10—Two hundred and fifty students stood in the rain Thursday morning to watch a Veterans Day parade, with one special guest in tow.

Seventy-five-year-old Guadalupe "Lupe" Garza Reyna was surprised during a Veterans Day ceremony when he was presented with his high school diploma, a rite of passage he missed when he joined the service and went to serve in Vietnam.

"It is my distinct honor to present you with your high school diploma on behalf of RVISD," Superintendent Paul Ryan said.

Attendees gave Reyna a standing ovation after he received his diploma before exiting the gym for the parade.

Born May 8, 1948, in Robstown near Corpus Christi, Reyna grew up picking cotton before his family moved to Rio Vista. One of 11 siblings, he attended Rio Vista schools back when kindergarten through 12th grade was housed in the Rio Vista administration building.

Reyna's sister, Vickie Villanueva, shared memories of growing up together picking cotton.

"As a boy, I remember him wearing a straw hat and always toting a fishing rod," Villanueva said. "As I got older, this memory reminded me of Huckleberry Finn. If you know him, you know he is one of the most calm and quiet men you will ever meet. Even as a child, he was the same, and never had an angry word. Not even when I hit him in the eye with a well aimed watermelon rind did he pay me back like I probably deserved. He is still the picture of patience and tolerance."

While he was in school, he worked for Jake Youngblood's Dairy to help his family financially. He continued to work for the Youngblood Dairy till he left for boot camp.

"He helped support the family when he reached his teens, getting up before school to work at a dairy for the Youngblood family, preparing the cows for milking every day," Villanueva said. "He was generous with his earnings and never denied his younger brothers and sisters a coke or candy when we begged him for a treat. I remember that Lupe was given the Citizenship Award several times in school. Teachers would ask why I couldn't be more like her brother Lupe in school.

"What I think is that the basics of who Lupe is were clear in these early memories of mine. He is a person who acts with care and deliberation. He is a giver, not a taker. He works to elevate his precious family to make sure everyone makes it across the finish line. He is a rock and a hero and I am proud to call him my brother."

Once he turned 18, he registered for selective service. He decided to put his high school career on hold to serve his country in the United States Army. His older brother, Frankie, was already serving in the United States Army and was stationed in Germany. Reyna wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps of being an aviation mechanic. Unfortunately, the Army didn't have any aviation mechanics positions available so he chose communications — not knowing this training would lead him into the telephone industry years later.

While stationed at Fort Hood, he met Sharon Neal. They dated for six months and were married Feb. 9, 1969. Ten days after their wedding he left for Vietnam. They have been married for 54 year.

On February 19, 1969, he was deployed to Tan Tru, Vietnam and attached with the 9th Infantry Division 2nd Battalion 4th Artillery Charlie Battery. His job was to keep communications for the camp to make sure the artillery could communicate at all times and be ready to use 24/7. He fulfilled his three-year commitment and returned home from Vietnam on Feb. 25, 1970.

"Vietnam Veterans were met with bitter, ungrateful welcomes from their fellow Americans when they returned from war," Reyna said. "There were times we were called names and spit on as we traveled home from war. We hardly received a thank you and there wasn't anything special for us when we returned from war ... so we just came back, went home and found real life jobs."

Reyna's real life job was with Texas Midland in Grandview, where he was hired in 1971. Texas Midland was a telephone company that changed names throughout the years. Reyna's duties included, but were not limited to, lineman, install, repair, etc. He serviced a 50-mile radius serving small communities within Johnson, Bosque and Hill counties.

Around Rio Vista, everyone knew him as the telephone guy that could fix your telephone. He retired from Windstream Communications after 43 years.

Reyna installed all the communications lines/fiber optics to all the Rio Vista ISD campuses and wired the whole high school by himself.

Lupe has lived in Rio Vista over 70 years and enjoys spending time with his family and friends. He enjoys being retired, traveling to new places with his wife, cruising on ships, camping and messing with his farm animals. He still continues to support Rio Vista by attending football and baseball games watching his great-grandson, seventh-grader Leighton.

All of Reyna's children and grandchildren graduated from Rio Vista, including his daughters, Linda Reyna-Martin and Shelbie Reyna-Norton.

"Mostly it's an honor to be here today," Linda Reyna-Martin said. "That he had left school to go and serve our country and years later he had his family. To see all of his family graduate from the school that he left, to see us get our diplomas and see some of his grandchildren get their diplomas and now to find out that he's able to get his diploma. For us, we wanted to honor him as that and not just as a veteran but also as a graduate."

Shelbie Reyna-Norton started the process of setting up the diploma presentation.

"I knew that other school districts had issued other honorary diplomas," she said. "So I decided to research and found that there is a program called Operation Recognition."

While the Selective Service and Training Act took effect in October 1940, and thousands of eligible men ages 18 to 65 entered service, thousands more volunteered after the Dec. 7, 1941, attacks on Pearl Harbor, many of whom left high school as the United States entered World War II.

With conflicts peppered throughout 20th-century U.S. military history, the trend of young men volunteering to serve out of high school continued — through World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Through Operation Recognition, individuals who were unable to receive their high school diplomas and who served in World War II, the Korean War or the Vietnam War and were honorably discharged from military service can apply to receive diplomas.

Once she presented the idea to administration, they all jumped on board, Shelbie Reyna-North said.

Reyna received several honors during his time of service, including the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with Bronze Service Stars, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Sharpshooter Rifle Medal and Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.

Nowadays Reyna enjoys meeting up with his fellow Vietnam Veteran friends of the 2nd Battalion 4th Artillery every second years. Every year his reunion group continues to shrink because of their health and age. He is looking forward to next April because they all plan to meet up in St. Augustine, Florida.