From the S&S archives:
After twice escaping Cuba, Marine considers himself lucky to be in Vietnam

GO NOI ISLAND, Vietnam — "I'm lucky to be here," the Marine said, and he was the only Leatherneck on this Communist stronghold 10 miles south of Da Nang to say anything like that.

It was morning and already hot, and soon the Marines would start to sweep from south to north across Go Noi Island, 8 square miles of free fire zone. It is a no man's land, but home base for the Reds. It's thick with bunkers and foxholes, and there's little shade and nobody knew how many Reds they'd run into.

The night before, Cpl. Jose Vazquez slept on the ground when he wasn't pulling watch and a few Reds had crawled close enough to throw a grenade in his general direction. Still, Vazquez considered himself lucky. He was lucky not to be in Communist Cuba. Twice he'd gotten away.

Vazquez, 25, escaped from Cuba in 1959 and went back as part of the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion force. He knew what the Communists did to his native country so he volunteered for the Marines to fight Communists in Vietnam.

"I wasn't a citizen then, but I felt I owed something to America, and I don't like communism," Vazquez said. He became an American citizen on May 1 after eight months as an infantryman, twice decorated.

Communists killed his brother and sister in Cuba. Vazquez' brother was a student leader and at a high school assembly was told to throw away an American flag. He wouldn't. He was shot.

Vazquez was hidden for several months by his father who one night put Vazquez and two other men in a car trunk and drove them to a beach.

His father pointed to the lights of Guantanamo Bay Navy Base, two-and-a-half miles away, and told told him to swim for it.

Vazquez never knew who the other two men were. One drowned. Vazquez and the other were picked up by a U.S. Navy patrol boat.

At the age of 15, Vazquez came to America. He joined the U.S. Army Special Forces so he could go back to Cuba with a rifle in his hands. He was part of the Bay of Pigs invasion, and was captured. He was released when the Red Cross delivered medical supplies and tractors to Cuba.

Vazquez wants to get back to his wife and two daughters and he wants to travel around America. He wants to see the country he's been fighting for.