Thursday, November 10, 2011

Veteran"s Day - A Time to Remember my Grandpa

My grandpa died when I was nineteen years of age, but I was fortunate to have gotten to know him a bit before he passed. Many of my siblings and cousins never got that chance. He was a quiet and hardworking guy who worked hard all day long and he always had a smile for me.

I spent the summer before my senior of high school living with my grandparents in their East Dallas home. My grandpa served in the South Pacific during World Way II, shipping out the night after he married his bride, my grandmother Elvira Portugal Leal.

He never talked to me about his days serving his country. To me, he was just my grandpa, who owned a tortilla and tamale factory in Downtown Dallas. I did not have an inkling of him as a soldier, as a young teenage boy who fought the enemy clear across the world from his family in Dallas, Texas. It did dawn on me that my sweet grandpa was someone important to others, people other than me, and my family, and his customers. At his funeral in downtown Dallas at the Cathredal of our Lady of Guadalupe, when I could not find a place to sit and hand to stand in the aisle, I got a clue.

Since he did not talk to me about those times, I have to share second hand a story my dad told me after he passed away.

As my father tells it, "One day, your grandpa said to me. Come on, son. We are going to Longview, there is a tortilla machine out there I want to take a look at. My dad said he did not want to drive all the way out to Longview, but my grandpa made him go. After looking at the machine, my grandpa stopped to refill at the gas station on Main St. After filling up, he went in and asked the person behind the counter if he knew Mr. Gray and if he knew where he lived. The guy said "Sure do", and gave my grandfather the directions. According to my father, they drove way out into the country and down a long rocky road. They stopped in front of a mailbox that said "Gray" on it. My grandpa got out of the truck and began to walk up the long hill towards the house when a dog came out and started barking and running for my grandpa. A bow legged man came out of the house and told the dog to heel. He put his hand up to shield the sun from his eyes and called out "Ruben, is that you?"

My father later asked Mr. Gray. "Sir, how did you know so quickly that was my dad?" Mr. Gray answered him with this, "Son, I walked behind your father for 4 years, if he walked, I walked, if he hit the ground, I hit the ground, if he said we could sit still and smoke a cigarette, I smoked a cigarette, if he slept, I slept. Your dad kept me alive all those years, so son, I would know your father's walk anywhere in this world."

Ruben Leal, Point man, Infantry Sergeant in the United States Army, served in the South Pacific, Honorable Discharge, Purple Heart, Bronze Star.

Thanks Grandpa, I love you and miss you.