New Year’s Day is the birthday of two of the 167 American fighting
men who died in Vietnam on a Fourth of July.
Marine Lance Corporal Homero Eliud Tijerina, born New Year’s Day
in 1946, died on July 4, 1966. He was one of 10 Marines killed in an ambush at
My Loc. A native of Edinburg, Texas, he was 20. Corporal Tijerina is one of
more than 3,000 Hispanics who died in Vietnam. He is buried at Hillcrest
Memorial Park in Edinburg.
Marine PFC Raymond Carson Griffiths, born this day in 1947, also died
July 4, 1966, of wounds suffered two days earlier when a booby trap exploded.
He was 19. A native of San Francisco, PFC Griffiths' letters are included in the book
and movie “Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam.” In one of his letters he
wrote, “I tell you truthfully, I doubt if I'll come out of this alive. In my
original squad I'm the only one left unharmed. In my platoon there's only 13 of
us. It seems every day another young guy 18 and 19 years old like myself is
killed in action. All of us are scared ‘cause we know a lot of us won't make
it." He is buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno,
California. Read more about him at http://www.lincolnhigh.net/kia_griffiths
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