Tony Roman has two Purple Hearts.
“I was a slow learner,” he said. “ I didn’t learn the first time.”
The San Antonio native arrived in Da Nang, Vietnam on July 26, 1969. He met a buddy in boot camp, Melvin Lloyd.
The two would joke that when they got back to the “real world,” they would try Lloyd’s grandma’s gumbo. He said it was the best in the world.
They parted ways, each heading off with his own unit. Three days later, Lloyd’s convoy was ambushed. His last words to Roman had been a reminder about trying the gumbo.
Just four days later on Aug. 2, Roman’s company had waited until nightfall to sneak up to the top of a hill. Around midnight, they started to take fire.
Two-time Purple Heart recipient Tony Roman speaks to fellow service and community members during Bexar County’s National Purple Heart Day ceremony at Military Plaza on Aug. 7, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report
Roman heard a thump by his leg. He looked down and kicked the grenade lying at his feet. It exploded seconds later. The blast injured him, but he said if the grenade had landed three inches away from where it did, he would be dead.
That was his first Purple Heart. The second one came not even a month later.
His company was deep in the jungle, in what they called the “Arizona territory” because firefights happened so often.
He said everything went quiet, his hair stood up on the back of his neck and he knew an ambush was about to begin.
“People will never understand a firefight. How loud it is. You smell gunpowder, you smell blood,” he said. “It’s a smell you never ever forget.”
He was shot in his left inner elbow; the scar is still visible today.
That was his second Purple Heart.
San Antonio’s Purple Heart community
Today, Roman is grateful he made it back to the “real world.” Every year he celebrates his “life date” on Aug. 2.
On National Purple Heart Day on Friday, he gathered with other local veterans for a ceremony to honor U.S. service members who have been wounded or killed in combat.
The Purple Heart Monument at Military Plaza in downtown San Antonio near the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report
Bexar County Clerk Lucy Adame-Clark, the Military Order of the Purple Heart Alamo Chapter 1836 and the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs hosted the event.
Roman, who formerly served as commander, said the San Antonio Purple Heart Chapter is the largest in the nation.
Adame-Clark announced that for the rest of August, which is Purple Heart month, the downtown memorial will be illuminated at night. Near Bexar County courthouse, the red stone memorial reads “My Stone Is Red For The Blood They Shed” and bears the names of hundreds of Purple Heart recipients.
“Each evening that this monument shines, it serves as a visible reminder that the sacrifice of our Purple Heart recipients will never fade into history or be forgotten by future generations,” she said.
Adame-Clark said her father is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who served in the 1950s and 60s, and he recently started talking to her about his own stories from his time in the service.
Names of Purple Heart recipients are etched into the Purple Heart Monument near the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center at Military Plaza in downtown San Antonio. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report
“Today, we are reminded that history is not only found in books or monuments, but it is also the lives and stories of those who answered our nation’s call. Often, at great personal cost,” she said.
Roman said that he too struggled with talking about his experiences in the war. He lives near SeaWorld San Antonio on the far West Side, and for years the Fourth of July fireworks would frighten him too, not just his dogs.
“You don’t get over it. You learn to live with it,” he said. “I’m fortunate that I was able to come back.”
The San Antonio Report’s military and veterans coverage is supported by Report for America.