MENDEZ-ANGEL

 

SACRIFICED  HIS  LIFE  SO  HIS  COMMANDER  WOULD  LIVE

 

Angel Mendez was one of eight children born to his parents, natives of Puerto Rico, who moved to New York City seeking a better life.  His father owned a grocery store in the South Bronx while his mother cared for their children.  When his mother became ill the family’s economic situation worsened, his father was unable to care for him and his siblings so Angel was placed in the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin, an orphanage in Mount Loretto, Staten Island, New York.  Here he received his primary and secondary education and while a member of the cadet corps he became fascinated with military life.  At a young age he and his friends would often imagine being on patrol while camping in nearby forests.  In 1964 Mendez volunteered to join the Marine Corps as soon as he graduated from high school.

 

Following basic training at MCRD Parris Island, he attended the School of Infantry at MCB Camp Lejeune and was then assigned to Company D, 1^st Battalion, 26^th Marine Regiment, 1^st Marine Division.  His next assignment was with Company F, 2^nd Battalion, 7^th Marines, 1^st Marine Division.   

 

On March 16, 1967, Mendez was conducting a search and destroy mission in Vietnam with his company.  For his actions that day he was awarded the Navy Cross.

 

NAVY  CROSS  CITATION:  The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross posthumously to SGT Angel Mendez, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving as a Platoon Right Guide of the Third Platoon, Company F, Second Battalion, Seventh Marines, in the Republic of Vietnam on March 16, 1967.  During Operation DeSoto in Quang Ngai Province, Company F was conducting a search and destroy mission when the rear elements of the company were taken under intense 50-caliber machine gun and automatic weapons fire from an estimated hard-core Viet Cong battalion.  One half of the Second Platoon was pinned down in an open rice paddy and all attempts to relieve the pressure on the beleaguered Marines had proven futile.  Sergeant (then Corporal) Mendez unhesitatingly volunteered to lead a squad into the face of the devastating and extremely accurate machine gun fire to assist the pinned-down Marines in returning to friendly lines with their two dead and two seriously wounded.  The Viet Cong fire increased to a fever pitch as Sergeant Mendez calmly and courageously moved out onto a paddy dike, completely exposed to the intense fire, and commenced firing his M-79 at the enemy positions with deadly accuracy.  He fired round after round as he stood, bravely defying the enemy, to give covering fire to his comrades.  Sixty meters across the rice paddy from Sergeant Mendez, his Platoon Commander was seriously wounded and he fell, unable to move.  Immediately Sergeant Mended raced through the hail of bullets o his Platoon Commander’s side.  Shielding him with his body as he applied a dressing to the wound, he picked up the Lieutenant and started to carry him to friendly lines, which were more than seventy-five meters away.  Exhibiting exceptional courage he moved toward the lines as the Viet Cong attempted to hit this double target.  Twenty meters short of his goal he was hit in the shoulder and two of his comrades ran out to assist him.  Even though painfully wounded, Sergeant Mendez chose to be the rear man, refusing to relinquish his hold on his Lieutenant’s legs as they carried him toward the hedgerow.  He was shielding his Lieutenant with his own body when he was mortally wounded.  By his dauntless courage, initiative and selfless efforts on behalf of another, Sergeant Mendez saved his Platoon Commander’s life and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.  He gallantly gave his life for his country.

 

The Lieutenant whose live Mendez is credited with saving is the Honorable Ronald D. Castile, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania.  In a speech he gave on January 14, 2008, he is quoted as saying:

 

“I remember my Platoon Sergeant Angel Mendez, a Marine who was raised in an orphanage on Staten Island and who called the Marine Corps his family.  It was SGT Mendez who braved the heavy enemy machine gun fire to pull me to safety as I lay wounded in that rice paddy in Vietnam at Duc Pho while leading my own Marines in an effort to bring in other wounded and fallen Marines to safety in Operation DeSoto.  Angel saved my life that day, but he was mortally wounded and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the second highest medal awarded by the Marine Corps for personal bravery.  New York Senator Charles Schumer is now leading an effort to upgrade Angel’s Navy Cross to the Medal of Honor.”

 

At the request of his family, SGT Mendez was laid to rest in the cemetery of the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin where he was raised.  In his honor the St. George Post Office in Staten Island has been named the “Sergeant Angel Mendez Post Office.”

 

AWARDS  &  CITATIONS:

Navy Cross

Purple Heart

Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with “V” for Valor

Combat Action Ribbon

Navy Presidential Unit Citation

Navy Unit Commendation

Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation

Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal

National Defense Service Medal

Vietnam Service Medal with (2) Campaign Stars

Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross

Vietnam Campaign Medal

Vietnam Military Merit Medal

Vietnam Civil Actions Honor Medal 1^st Class Unit Citation with Palms

Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Honor Medal 2^nd Class (Individual Award)

Vietnam Wound Medal

 

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)