Veteran from Menifee receives one more special award

Sgt. Major Ernesto Perez, shown in Kandahar, Afghanistan shortly before his retirement in 2008.

 
Today we honor all veterans who have served our country. Here is the story of one veteran from Menifee who received a special award this week.

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Ernesto Perez served 12 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and 22 years in the California National Guard. Along the way, he earned his AA degree from Bakersfield College and pursued a Bachelor’s degree online while serving overseas.

Yet because he enlisted in the Marine Corps before completing his senior year of high school, Perez never received something that is a special document of achievement for most – a high school diploma. Until this week, that is.

Through Riverside County’s Operation Recognition program, the Menifee resident is one of 11 veterans who are receiving their high school diplomas. In the last 13 years, 362 Riverside County veterans who left school early to serve their country have been so honored.

Perez, 71, was a high school student in King City, California – a small town in Monterey County – when he received his draft notice in the late 1960s. He decided that if he was going to serve his country, he wanted a say in controlling his own destiny.

“I didn’t want to be drafted,” Perez said. “I wanted a choice of who and when I would serve. I chose the Marines and I talked to my parents about it. I told them I was going to get drafted anyway, so I wanted to make that choice for myself and enlist. They weren’t too excited about it.”

After training at Camp Pendleton, Perez spent 1969 and 1970 in Vietnam as a rifleman in the infantry. Among the awards he received for his service there are the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Marine Good Conduct Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and Meritorious Service Medal, among others.

After returning home, Perez served several years in the Marine Corps reserves, serving on an engineering unit that maintained utility services. In 1986, he joined the California National Guard, serving in an armored tank battalion.

Perez was deployed to Kuwait for a year in 2005. Two weeks after returning home, he requested another deployment and returned to Kuwait with an Army unit for another year. Following that term of service, he requested permission from the National Guard for another overseas deployment. He was assigned as a PEO (Program Executive Office) Soldier in Afghanistan, being responsible for the procurement and fielding of equipment for troops, retiring in 2008.

 In his military career, Perez received more than 30 federal and state service awards.

“I just felt it was my duty to do my best in serving my country,” Perez said about his many requests for additional deployments. “I wanted to be with my combat brothers. I was diagnosed with PTSD and it’s been a struggle at times, but I wanted to serve. They retired me when I turned 60; otherwise, I would still be a part of it.”

Perez and his wife Lisa have lived in Menifee for about a year. Their four children are grown, but he still remembers a time when leaving family to serve overseas was difficult.

“It was just in me,” he said. “My family was always concerned about me, but I felt it was my duty to be part of the service. I always felt kind of guilty when I came home.”

Perez rose through the ranks in the National Guard from a platoon Sergeant to Sergeant Major. While he remained committed to continuing his education during his military years, the knowledge that he never received his high school diploma was always in the back of his mind.

“It was a complete surprise to me when I saw this honor was available,” said Perez, who applied to receive the diploma and was accepted into the program. “I’m thrilled about it. It’s very personal to me.”

Lt. Corporal Ernesto Perez stands by an Army vehicle in Quang Tri, South Vietnam in 1969.