Bruce Charles Morales
Bruce Charles Morales was born November 11,1949 in San Antonio Texas. He is now 53 years old and retired from the Army after serving 22 years and six months. He grew up on the south side of San Antonio and is a graduate of Harlandale High School. He had one older brother, one younger brother and three younger sisters. At the age of 18 he decided to join the Army. He was then sent to Fort Bliss, El Paso for his basic training where he did very well and joined the Special Forces to become a Green Beret. To become a Green Beret he had to first attend Fort Benning for four weeks, Fort Gordon, Georgia for eight weeks and Fort Carson, Colorado for four months. Out of the 319 who tried to become a Green Beret, he was one of the 26 people who made it. He received 13 medals and ribbons for doing such an outstanding job in the Vietnam War. He is now married to a woman named Bonnie Moore Morales and has three children and five step-children who he enjoys his life with now that he is retired.
How old were you when you decided to join the Vietnam War?
I was 18 years old.
Were you asked to join or did you volunteer to join?
I volunteered.
How much school did you complete?
I graduated from Harlandale High School. I've been a southsider all my life.
What branch did you serve in?
I was in Special Forces, Green Beret, the Army. See Special Forces is their own, nobody gets in it unless you... It's a hard school, you gotta.... It's hard to explain. They got an old saying about it you know "One hundred test today but only three in the Green Beret out of a hundred." Well there was 319 who went to school for it but only 26 of us made it.
What made you decide to join it?
Well, when I was little there was either two things I wanted to be a Green Beret or an F.B.I. and so I became a Green Beret.
What did you feel that you left behind when you went to war?
My family didn't know I enlisted. I went and volunteered on my own. Nobody knew until I was in Vietnam.
Did you just come home and say "I'm going to Vietnam"?
No, no I didn't even come home I just went straight to where I was at Fort Lewis Washington.
Did your family think you were missing since you didn't tell them?
Well they finally figured where I was at because they called the Red Cross. And the General went over there and got me out of the field and told me to write a letter saying I was OK.
Where were you at when you became a Green Beret?
Well it was in three different places. Fort Benning was my jump school, Fort Gordon Georgia was my airborne infantry school and Fort Carson Colorado was my swimming and mountain climbing.
How did you feel about the Vietnam War?
Well, all I know is we won the war and I went for one thing only and that's to kill our enemies and that's what I did.
What do you feel you learned from being in the Vietnam War?
That we shouldn't let the enemies take over the U.S.A.
What did you like or dislike about that war?
I learned that everyone is your enemy over there and that you don't trust none of them not even the kids. Kill them all. Thats what I was trained for and that's what I did.
Would you change anything that you did in the war or have any regrets about it?
No, none at all. If I had to do it again I'd do it all over.
How did you get your Purple Heart?
I was shot seven times.
Were you scared?
No that's what we were trained for, not to be scared.
How do you feel about people who discuss the Vietnam War that were not in the war?
Aggravated. I feel aggravated about the protesters. I feel aggravated about all of them because you need people to back up the United States and all these protesters you know I feel if they don't want to do it they need to be shot in the head. You know they live here and if they don't want to back up the U.S. then go live in another country.
What do you most vividly remember about the war?
Everything, especially my friends dying.
Were there any other family members in the service?
My father was in World War Two, my oldest brother was also in the Vietnam War, he was one of
the first tunnel rats in the United States Army, he went in the hole with just a gun and a flashlight and took them out. He came back alive. Then I went to Vietnam that's really why I went I guess cause that was my motive to go and find my brother but I didn't see him and I just stayed out there. My other brother when I was over there he went in, but he didn't go to Vietnam he went to Germany because the war was just about over already, he went in the '70s.
