Former Marine Corps Sgt. Jose Maria Martinez was an infantryman and mortarman in 1967-68 in Vietnam and earned a combat ribbon with valor for firefiights his battalion engaged in at Con Thien. He was deported in 2002 after serving 5 years in federal prison on drug charges, even though according to his military records, he was a U.S. citizen. Tara Copp/Military Times.
Former Marine Corps Sgt. Jose Maria Martinez was an infantryman and mortarman in 1967-68 in Vietnam and earned a combat ribbon with valor for firefiights his battalion engaged in at Con Thien. He was deported in 2002 after serving 5 years in federal prison on drug charges, even though according to his military records, he was a U.S. citizen. Tara Copp/Military Times.
Martinez has spent the last 16 years in Mexico, never returning to be able to see his children or get VA care. He owns a small cellphone business here, along the main street of the Mexican border town of Progreso. Tara Copp/Military Times
Martinez walks along Progreso's main street, where after sixteen years, he knows many of the vendors who run pharmacies and Mexican crafts shops catering to tourists. Tara Copp/Military Times