The Valenzuela Brothers: veterans with long-history in US still threatened with deporation
(for more on the potential deportation of the Valenzuela brothers, check out this video)
Valente and Manuel Valenzuela were born in Paloma, Chihuahua, Mexico. It is a small village, and at the time it was comprised mostly of native people. 
Their grandmother was a medicine woman and acted as midwife to the community. Valente recalls that ”It was 3 hours to the nearest hospital on horseback, and Grandmother delivered all the babies.” She began to tutor Valente in the ways of old medicine. His Grandmother was certain that he would grow be a great man, that he would be able to help others.
The Valenzuelas decided to come back to the United States when Valente was 7. He had been to the United States before many times with his American mother, coming and going without any problems. He knew many people on the American side. He had a lot of family there, and was eager to be around his Mother’s parents, who were also American. They went through customs at the border legally and walked across the international bridge that joins Mexico and America. The family traveled on to Redford, Texas.
Now the oldest of 12 Valente, recalls his early years in America. “Life was a struggle. Often I was barefoot at school; Father worked hard but money was tight.” As a teenager Valente was often absent from high school. “I went to work,” he explains, “right along side Father. I made 30 or 40 cents a day.” His teachers encouraged him to stay in school, but he felt a greater call and need in helping to support his family.
In 1965, during the heat of the Vietnam War, he went to the Army office in Roswell, New Mexico. He told his family that he wanted to volunteer for his country and he enlisted in the Army in the 101st Airborne. He was not sent to Vietnam initially, and it wasn’t until the last 10 months of his term that he was finally sent. Ultimately, Valente was decorated by the Army for his service in Vietnam.
Manuel Valenzuela was born in June of 1952. He came to the United States when he was just 3 years old. His first memories are from his home in Redford, Texas where he worked hard as a child. Manuel was driving a tractor by 10 years old. “We would wake up at 4am and go and work in the cotton fields, then catch the bus from there. After school we went back to the fields and often worked into the night by headlights.” It was a hard childhood. Manuel was very close with his father, who taught him so much about living. “I remember my Father as the type of man that would give his shirt for anybody. I try to be like that too, helping anyone I can.”
Manuel excelled in school, often receiving praise from instructors. He was always a good student and later in high school he played football, even making it to 1st string on the varsity football team. At 17 Manuel left Redform after his girlfriend moved away to Lovett, Texas. He eventually caught up with her, but a very angry male relative barred the two from seeing each other.
Alone and seeking direction, Manuel turned his attention to the Marines. He secretly joined in 1971 as an infantry man. His journey first took him to Okinawa, Japan where he was taught guerrilla warfare. Months later, he was off to the Philippines for more advanced training in guerrilla warfare. Soon he would find himself on the coast of Vietnam. He was deployed to Vietnam 3 times, surviving each mission unharmed. He was one of the lucky ones. In the war he performed rescue missions and ambushes. In the last year of his service, he was an MP and secured an area on Mare Island, California where Nuclear Submarines were constructed. It was here that he caught back up with his love. They were soon married. He did not re-enlist after serving his first full term. Instead, he invested his time in building a family and trying to deal with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, his reward for serving the country in Vietnam. Today he hopes to remain in the US with his children and grandchildren.
Watch a short trailer of a soon-to-be released documentary about the brothers below
story and video taken from http://valenzuelabrothers.com
