After 44 Years, Vietnam Veteran Receives Purple Heart

German Sanchez was an 18-year-old kid living in Brooklyn, NY, when he was drafted into the Vietnam War in September of 1968. After a one-year tour he would go on to serve a total of eight years in the Army, until his honorable discharge in September of 1976.

Yesterday, surrounded by his family and some military brass, Sanchez said he had no regrets, and that he'd do it all again – even fight in a brutal war – in a heartbeat.

"I lost a lot of friends, and I think of them every Memorial Day," said Sanchez, who traveled to Nashua on Thursday from his home in Boscawen, for the Purple Heart medal he earned during his service in Vietnam.

It was an honor that got lost in the shuffle of military paperwork, and forgotten until recently.

Sanchez, who was wounded in battle, risked his own life to save the lives of others when his unit came under enemy fire, a fact of the war that was shared by U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-Nashua.

She also said it was her honor to be able to help get the medal into Sanchez's hands.

"It's so humbling to see someone like German and to hear what he did, to go back into the line of fire after being injured to help his fellow soldiers. That is the definition of a true hero," Ayotte said.

Several of Sanchez's family members made the trip from Brooklyn to witness the brief ceremony, held in Ayotte's downtown Nashua office. State Rep. Caroletta Alicea, D-Boscawen, a longtime family friend, was also in attendance.

"I can't be more proud. No one can be more deserving. He's an exquisite individual –  salt of the earth – will do anything for anyone. He so deserves this, after waiting so many years," Alicea said.

After leaving Vietnam, Sanchez was stationed in Fort Benning, Ga., as a weapons instructor, and then was a border patrol sergeant in Germany.

Post-Army, Sanchez made his way to New Hampshire and got a job doing maintenance at Concord State Hospital. It was his former boss there, Tom Robbins, who pushed him to get his plumbers license, which he said bettered his life.

Sanchez will be 64 in August, and is semi-retired, although he still works two days a week. In his "off time" he donates his maintenance services to those in need through his church.

"They buy the supplies and I do the work, as a gift," Sanchez said.

He knows he landed well, after returning from Vietnam. Many of those who made it out alive did not find their place so easily in this world. He credits his early years, growing up in Brooklyn, for preparing him for war.

“War was a nightmare – I lost a lot of friends. But you also gotta remember I grew up in Brooklyn, New York - Vietnam was a piece of cake, compared to Brooklyn," Sanchez said, only half kidding. "I grew up in the '60s in Brooklyn where there was gang fighting and running away from people trying to kill you - really, the same as Vietnam," he said.  

And then, he got quiet. 

"I'm just so grateful to be here today, and that my family could be here with me to share this moment, on Memorial Day," he said, embracing his brother. "It's a beautiful day," Sanchez said.