{"id":125902,"date":"2016-02-09T20:22:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T03:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=125902"},"modified":"2016-02-09T20:22:57","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T03:22:57","slug":"at-urging-of-los-lunas-students-legislature-honors-vietnam-vet-who-died-50-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/02\/at-urging-of-los-lunas-students-legislature-honors-vietnam-vet-who-died-50-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"At urging of Los Lunas students, Legislature honors Vietnam vet who died 50 years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_125906\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-125906\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/3149257_web_hero-771x598.jpg\" alt=\"Peter and Priscilla Fern\u00e1ndez\" width=\"771\" height=\"598\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/3149257_web_hero.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/3149257_web_hero-336x261.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/3149257_web_hero-768x596.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Milan Simonich \/ The New Mexican<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Peter Fern\u00e1ndez and his wife Priscilla, shown here, were in the New Mexico Senate on Tuesday to see Peter\u2019s brother Daniel, of Los Lunas, recognized for his heroism. Daniel died almost 50 years ago in the Vietnam War. He threw himself on an enemy grenade on Feb. 18, 1966, saving the lives of four of his buddies who were caring for a wounded officer. He posthumously received the Medal of Honor, America&#8217;s highest award for valor in combat.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Army Spc. Daniel Fern\u00e1ndez died almost 50 years ago when he dived on an enemy grenade in Vietnam, saving the lives of four buddies.<\/p>\n<p>Fern\u00e1ndez became a military legend at age 21 for his heroism and because President Lyndon B. Johnson posthumously awarded him the Medal of Honor, America&#8217;s highest decoration for valor in combat.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>. NMPolitics.net is paying for the rights to publish articles about the 2016 legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/10\/nmpolitics-net-cant-exist-without-your-financial-support\/\" target=\"_blank\">making a donation to NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Students at Valencia High School in Los Lunas, Fern\u00e1ndez&#8217;s hometown, are all young enough to be his grandchildren. But because of Fern\u00e1ndez&#8217;s stirring biography, Vietnam is more than a chapter in their history book.<\/p>\n<p>After learning about Fern\u00e1ndez sacrificing himself so that others could live, the students asked state legislators to commemorate the anniversary of his death on Feb. 18, 1966. They traveled to the Capitol <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1265459077\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Tuesday<\/span><\/span> to see the state Senate and House of Representatives approve memorials honoring Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Fern\u00e1ndez, a younger brother of Daniel, said it&#8217;s hard to believe a half-century has passed since he lost his brother to war. Peter Fern\u00e1ndez was just 17 when Daniel died. Peter and his wife, Priscilla, were at the Capitol for the ceremonies. Priscilla said a Valencia High School staff member, Laurie Kastelic, helped the students in their effort to bring legislative recognition to Daniel Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n<p>The Vietnam War divided America in the 1960s and &#8217;70s. Peter Fern\u00e1ndez said his brother enlisted in 1962, before the fighting escalated and the country splintered because of it. Daniel Fern\u00e1ndez was on his second tour in Vietnam when his patrol was ambushed by a Viet Cong rifle company.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>A sergeant was wounded, and then the Viet Cong threw a grenade at the American soldiers who were treating him.<\/p>\n<p>Fern\u00e1ndez&#8217;s citation for the Medal of Honor recounts the next moments, his last. &#8220;Realizing there was no time for the wounded sergeant or the other men to protect themselves from the grenade blast, Sp4c. Fern\u00e1ndez vaulted over the wounded sergeant and threw himself on the grenade as it exploded, saving the lives of his four comrades at the sacrifice of his life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, who sponsored <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/lcs\/legislation.aspx?chamber=S&amp;legtype=M&amp;legno=85&amp;year=16\" target=\"_blank\">the Senate memorial<\/a>, said Fern\u00e1ndez&#8217;s selflessness is something that New Mexico will always take pride in. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/lcs\/legislation.aspx?chamber=H&amp;legtype=M&amp;legno=93&amp;year=16\" target=\"_blank\">companion memorial<\/a> to Fern\u00e1ndez in the House was sponsored by Rep. Alonzo Baldonado, R-Los Lunas, and Rep. Kelly Fajardo, R-Belen.<\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Milan Simonich at (505) 986-3080 or <a href=\"mailto:msimonich@sfnewmexican.com\">msimonich@sfnewmexican.com<\/a>. Follow his Ringside Seat column at <a href=\"http:\/\/santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">santafenewmexican.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Army Spc. Daniel Fern\u00e1ndez died almost 50 years ago when he dived on an enemy grenade in Vietnam, saving the lives of four buddies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":125906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3250,171,107],"class_list":["post-125902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-legislative-session","tag-military","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}