• BY ERICA RODRIGUEZ - ERODRIGUEZ@VICAD.COM
• Originally published November 11, 2009 at 5:45 p.m., updated November 12, 2009 at 8:47 a.m.

• 
  Video: A moment of silence

Bruno Valderrama, a 58-year-old Vietnam veteran and Victoria native, proudly showed his combat ribbons and medals at the Victoria Veterans Day parade for the first time in years Wednesday.

"For a long time we didn't want to see them," he said as he watched the Victoria Veterans Day parade march by. His black sunglasses shielded watery eyes. His voice was thick with emotion. "You try to forget a bad experience so you never look for the medals, but I thought this year, this was something I had to do."

Wednesday's Veterans Day parade on North Street featured a flurry of veterans, American flags and marching bands. Onlookers stood and shouted, "Thank you" as the Victoria County Veterans Council Marine color guard passed. Many saluted and small children clutched flags. More than 70 groups paraded down the street in military vehicles, on floats or on foot waving, shouting or twirling rifles.

"I come out here to pay tribute to those who didn't come back," said Valderrama, a former Air Force sergeant. For years, Valderrama didn't want to remember his job assignment in Vietnam. He transported supplies to troops across the region and saw firsthand the gruesome realities of war.

"We saw some of the horrible things that happened in Vietnam," he said. "The worst part of it was picking up the dead soldiers. Our job was to take supplies and in return we would pick up the bodies. We sent so many soldiers back home it was unreal."

He wore his medals for those same soldiers.

"They're my medals, but I wear them for them," he said of his fallen comrades.

Army Capt. Leticia Ortiz, 33, an Iraq war veteran and Victoria native, made it home just in time to take part.

"I don't realize how important my job is until I can come home and realize how much support and thanks there is out there," she said. She marched in her Army fatigues as a volunteer with the Red Cross.

Ortiz returned home from Iraq in April and is in Victoria on leave for Thanksgiving. She is scheduled to deploy again next year.

After the procession, the Rev. David Berger, associate pastor of Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Victoria, led the crowd in prayer, asking for blessing of veterans past and present. The prayer was followed by stark salutes of veterans and service members as the Toast of the Coast Barbershop Chorus sang a soulful national anthem.

Veteran and civic groups presented wreaths to recognize the service men and women who have died.

"They have served our country with honor, with pride, with courage," said State Sen. Glenn Hegar, in his address to the audience. "They are individuals we look up to. Why? Because they preserve our freedoms."

Janie Ortiz, Ortiz' mother, removed her sunglasses and wiped tearful eyes as she listened. She squeezed her daughter's shoulder, and they smiled.

"It's very emotional," Janie Ortiz said. "You can feel it in your heart because it seems like to me I never felt this until my girls joined the military. It's wonderful to see all the support."

The ceremony concluded with a solemn gun salute by the Catholic War Veterans, St. John's Post No. 1269, followed by the playing of taps.

For Valderrama, being a veteran is about paying tribute to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and being thankful for life.

"For all the people on the Vietnam memorial we would forget. They're not able to be out here and enjoy this," he said. "Personally I'm here for them. I am very lucky that I made it back."

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