This afternoon, family and friends of Jose Manuel Quesney will gather at South Lawn Memorial Cemetery to remember and to celebrate him.
He was an Army corporal killed in battle in Vietnam 45 years ago Monday.
And the tears still flow for Jose B. Quesney, his father, and Mary Helen Aguilar, his sister.
“I miss him every day,” Aguilar said as her voice trailed off. “That’s why we feel he deserves this ceremony.”
Last week I sat in the elder Quesney’s dining room and Aguilar brought out a large, green binder. Its plastic-covered pages held memories of Quesney, before and after his death on Sept. 16, 1968.
There are photos of young Quesney at school — Elizabeth Borton Elementary, Utterback Junior and Pueblo High; at Santa Cruz Catholic Church, where he was an altar boy; at picnics on Mount Lemmon and at Patagonia; and at the University of Arizona, which he attended for one year after graduating from high school in 1966.
“He wanted to be an architect,” said his sister.
But his father, who was a carpenter, couldn’t afford the tuition. So Quesney volunteered, hoping he would attend college through his military benefits after his service.
Five months after he arrived in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division, Quesney, who had been wounded twice while in action, died in a firefight. He was 21 years old.
“He wanted to go to school. But we were too poor,” said Quesney’s 90-year-old father, beating back tears. He rubbed his hands along the top of the dining table like he was rubbing a magic lamp, hoping his son would walk through the door of his south-side home.
The book contains condolence letters to the Quesney family written by generals Creighton W. Abrams Jr., then commanding general of the Army in Vietnam; and William Westmoreland, then Army chief of staff; and Arizona politicians Sen. Paul Fannin and Gov. Jack Williams. Pueblo High School Principal Florence Reynolds also wrote the family, as did Claudio Jimenez, a Spanish-language radio announcer, who did not know Quesney but was moved by his death.
The family held memorial services every 10 years after Quesney’s death. The last one was five years ago. But the family decided to hold this service now because of Quesney senior’s declining health.
At today’s service the colors will be presented. Veterans who didn’t know Quesney will be present. A chaplain will give a blessing, and Aguilar, her daughter, Marisela Aguilar, and other family members will offer their words. Some names of Tucsonans killed in Vietnam will be read, including brothers Frank and Ruben Montaño, who grew up in the Quesneys’ old neighborhood near South Euclid Avenue and East 33rd Street.
A display case with Quesney’s medals, including three Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars, which are given for valor, will be at his grave site. In the family’s memory book, a letter from the Army cites Quesney’s lifesaving bravery in May, the first time he was wounded, when his platoon was under attack.
“He saved his platoon leader and several of his buddies,” Aguilar said. “He was very courageous.”
Quesney was also a good brother and son, she added. He enjoyed playing baseball and ran cross country. He played the guitar and serenaded the family with old Mexican love songs. He loved to draw.
When he decided to leave the UA and sign up, Quesney did not tell his family until after he volunteered. His notice to report to duty, Oct. 18, 1967, at 129 S. Scott Ave., is included in the fading memory book.
“What was done was done,” said the senior Quesney. “What could we say?”
Before Quesney saw his family for the last time, he was home for a two-week leave after airborne training. He spent nearly the whole time in his room, Aguilar said. On his final day, family and friends arrived at the Quesney home to say goodbye.
His father, sister and mother, Lolita Quesney, who died in 2004, drove him to the airport. As their soldier-hero walked toward the plane, he looked back.
“It was a sad look,” Aguilar said. “He knew.”
