lest we forget

DURAN, SALVADORE GUTIERREZ

Rank / Branch:

  • STAFF SERGEANT, U. S. ARMY

Date Of Birth:

  • 1944-07-02

Country Of Loss:

  • SOUTH VIETNAM

Status:

  • HOSTILE, MULTIPLE FRAGMENT WOUNDS

Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:​

  • GROUND

Other:

  • MARRIED

Unit:

  • FOURTH INFANTRY DIVISION

Date Of Loss:

  • 1970-05-20

Loss Coordinates:

  • PLEIKU

Catagory:

  • BODY RETURNED

Awards & Decorations:

  • SEE BIO

VETERAN HAGI0GRAPHY

  • DURAN, SALVADOR GUTIERREZ, STAFF SERGEANT, U.S. ARMY, FORT STOCKTON, PECOS COUNTY, TEXAS

AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

  • COMBAT INFANTRYMANS BADGE, BRONZE STAR WITH V DEVICE, ARMY COMMENDATIONS MEDAL WITH V, PURPLE HEART, GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL, NATIONAL DEFENSE SERVICE MEDAL, VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL, VIETNAM MILITARY MERIT MEDAL, VIETNAM CROSS OF GALLANTRY WITH PALM, VIETNAM CAMPAIGN MEDAL

BIOGRAPHY

  • Salvador "Cono" Duran was born in Fort Stockton, Texas on July 2, 1944. He was the son of Sabino and Catrina Guiterrez. He was one of eleven children. He had four brothers and six sisters. He spent these early years in Fort Stockton, attending schools there. Before his freshman year and due to the size of the family, he moved to McCamey and lived with an uncle who was a foreman on a ranch near McCamey. He then attended McCamey schools.
  • While at McCamey High School, he excelled sports and academics. He played four years of football (a captain as a junior), baseball and track. He was a member of the National Honor Society, and president of his senior class, and was the voted as "Mr. School Spirit" and was the Junior King of the Junior-Senior Prom. He graduated in 1964 with honors. After high school, he enrolled and attended Sul Ross State University on an athletic/academic scholarship. While at Sul Ross, he played on the Lobo Baseball Team and ran track. He had planned to teach and coach. He was described as having an outgoing personality, was in the forefront of every activity in which he participated. He loved to play the guitar and his favorite song that he played and sang was "La Bamba."
  • After graduating from college in January 1968, he accepted a teaching job in Dalhart, Texas. He was drafted into the Army in the summer of 1968. He took his basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas. He completed infantry AIT at Fort Ord, California and then was selected to attend the Non-Commissioned Officer's Candidate's (NCOC) Academy at Harmony Church, Fort Benning, Georgia. He graduated on April 22, 1969, and was promoted to Sergeant. He attended Leadership schools at Fort Polk, Louisiana and at Fort Ord, California enroute to Vietnam.
  • Prior to leaving for Vietnam, he married Teresa Carolina Molinar in Alpine on July 29, 1969. They had been classmates in college and they both had taught at Dalhart. At the time of their marriage, Teresa was living and teaching in Post, Texas.
  • Sal started his tour in Vietnam on August 8, 1969, and was assigned the to the 1st Squadron, B Troop, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. The regiment was a mechanized infantry unit. Sal was assigned to the 2nd platoon as a track commander on APC 28. Each APC had a infantry staff sergeant as the track commander and due to Sal's leadership abilities, he was promoted to Staff Sergeant. He was killed from multiple fragment wounds on May 20, 1970, when his APC was hit by a 57 mm rocket.
  • He was buried with full military honors in Fort Stockton, Texas at the St. Joseph Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, his parents and his brothers, Sabino, Fred, Johnny and Robert; and by his sisters, Lucelia Ramirez, Isabel Celeya, Alvina Tamayo, Eva Quentella, Anita Valen Quel and Mary Helen Avita.
  • McCamey High School, 1963
  • McCAMEY HIGH SCHOOL
  • ST JOSEPH CEMETERY, FORT STOCKTON, TEXAS