Politics & Government

University Place City Councilman Shares Award-Winning Essay He Wrote After Vietnam

Javier Figueroa won the Department of the Army contest in 1973.

"I am proud to be an American fighting an old battle in a new generation."

wrote these words shortly after an airplane returned him to the Northwest after a tour in Vietnam. It was for an essay contest that was open to members of the Armed Forces. Countless soldiers entered.

A year later, he learned that he had won.

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"I've never shared this before," he told Patch,"but I thought it was pretty important."

To the veteran and University Place City Councilman, he fought for something that generations of soldiers before him had fought for.

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The war might be different. The locale changed. But the reason brave men and women fight for our country remains unchanged, according to Figueoroa.

Freedom.

(To read Figueroa's essay, click on the pdf documents in the media gallery)


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