Raul Rodriguez MSG (Ret)

Raul (Roy) Rodriguez was born on June 3rd, 1949 in San Antonio, TX to Jesús and Rosa Rodriguez. With his family by his side, Roy went home to be with our Father in heaven on Friday, February 11th, 2022, at the age of 72.

Roy graduated from Fox Tech High School in 1967. In 1969, he was drafted and served in the United States (US) Army as a Dental Assistant. After completing his Dental Assistant training, he received orders to deploy to Vietnam. While in Vietnam, he served not only as a Dental Assistant but also as a Combat Medic for a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit. While in Vietnam, an enemy mortar round hit the MASH unit’s ammunition bunker and caught fire causing ammunition to fire throughout the bunker. Without hesitation, Roy entered the burning bunker twice, saving the lives of two officers. One of his missions, as a Combat Medic, was to retrieve wounded soldiers from the battlefield. He bravely gathered and loaded wounded soldiers into a helicopter returning them to the MASH unit for care. For his bravery and heroism, he was awarded the Bronze Star. After completing his active-duty time in the US Army, he would continue serving in the US Army Reserve. As a Reservist, he was promoted to the rank of Master Sergeant (MSG) and served as the unit’s First Sergeant (1SG) for his dental unit. As the 1SG of a unit, he was in charge of his soldiers’ welfare, training, and combat readiness. He later retired from the US Army after serving honorably for 29 years. In conjunction with his time in the military, Roy also worked for the San Antonio Water Systems (SAWS) for 38 years where he started his career as a draftsman and later retired as an Inspector in 2011.

Roy cherished his large loving family. He always shared his love for sports, grilling, music, and good meaningful conversations with his siblings, nephews, nieces, and friends. His five brothers and three sisters were his best friends. Roy was a proud Vietnam veteran who loved and protected his family, friends, and country. His devotion was to his family and the military.

Roy is preceded in death by his parents, Jesús and Rosa Rodriguez; siblings, Juanita (Abraham) Valladares, Jesse (Guadalupe) Rodriguez, Jose Rodriguez. Roy is survived by his wife of 40 years, Sylvia; children, Veronica (Ramon) Saldaña, Raul Rodriguez Jr (Monica), Bianca (Johannes) Laven; grandchildren, Briana (Cristian) Castañeda, Claire Saldaña, Raymon Saldaña, Angela (Aaron) Ortiz, Amber Rodriguez, Andrew Rodriguez, Alicia Rodriguez; Emilia Laven, Josephine Laven; great grandchildren Jonathan Soto, Sebastian Davila, Rylee Quintero; as well as siblings, Rosita (Rudy) Gonzalez, Graciela (Alex -Deceased) Riojas, Gilberto (Rosaline) Rodriguez, Jorge (Francisca) Rodriguez, Carlos (Anna) Rodriguez and numerous nieces and nephews. In Lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Wounded Warriors Project.

“If love alone could have saved you, you never would have died.”