Which is more vacuous “Have a nice Day” or “Thank you for your service”?

Reader View: For Velez family, two sons lost to war

Sante Fe New Mexican

Posted: Saturday, July 5, 2014 7:00 pm

By Larry Davis |

We are watching as a new group of radical Islamist insurgents, calling themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, among other names, races across northern Iraq, taking cities whose names we know only because not long ago, young Americans fought and died there to rid them of another group of insurgents. The Iraqi security forces, which were trained by Americans and outnumber the ISIS rebels perhaps 50 to 1, are dissolving in disarray or worse, joining the ISIS rebels.

After more than $2 trillion spent, almost 4,500 dead and 32,000 wounded Americans sacrificed for Iraq, we ask how can it be that all our efforts seem to have been for naught. And it is hard not to wonder if the U.S. experience in Iraq is the worst episode of squandered American valor in our nation’s history. Historians will have to decide that but, since I heard that Fallujah had fallen, I just keep thinking of a family in Lubbock, Texas, and how terrible it must be for them to watch the news from Iraq.

José “Freddy” Velez was a son, who like so many other young American sons, joined up to serve his country and protect it from enemies. It was in Fallujah, a city in northern Iraq, which saw the uncommon valor of Freddy Velez and tragically, where he fought his last fight. In one of the many battles for that city, Freddy’s platoon was ambushed and, in the ensuing deadly firefight, a soldier was hit and went down. As a couple of fellow soldiers exposed themselves to deadly fire to gather their wounded buddy and move him to safety, Freddy Velez did not hesitate to expose himself to provide covering fire for his friends. Just as they moved the wounded to safety, Freddy was hit in the throat by enemy fire. He died in the dirt there on a forgotten street in Fallujah.

Freddy’s younger brother was in Afghanistan that awful day, fighting his own battles for his country. The military allowed him leave so that he could accompany and escort Freddy’s body home to Lubbock for a funeral with full military honors. I remember the photos in the local newspaper, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, of Freddy’s mother and father, and of his young soldier brother. Such a handsome family and somehow so strong and brave as they dealt with a heartbreak too many American families have experienced when their sons and daughters have given, what President Abraham Lincoln called, “the last full measure of devotion.”

Tragically, it was not to be the last time the community would turn out for a Velez family funeral.

Freddy’s brother, Andrew, had signed up shortly after his big brother and just before he deployed to Afghanistan, he had married his high school sweetheart. The separation must have been tough for both of them, as it must be for all young married military couples. But it was to prove especially tough for this young couple. All too soon, Andrew had to return to his unit and his war in Afghanistan. Tragically, not long after arriving back with his unit, he hung up the phone and took his own life.

When I heard that Fallujah had fallen, I could not stop thinking about the Velez family of Lubbock. I wonder how a family deals with the terrible price they have paid for our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Velez family gave their two sons in the service of our nation, one to the wounds he suffered while saving his friends at Fallujah, and another in Afghanistan, suffering from the wounds of a broken heart.


Larry Davis is a former Texan who now lives in Santa Fe.