Featured: A school yearbook with Martin and his younger brother Daniel ("Pepe"). Daniel told me that Martin wrote home from Vietnam almost (if not every) single day. Daniel read all of Martin's letters to their father and mother who, at that time, could not read.

The Cage - Project Update - Aug 22, 2019

Hi, <<First Name>>,
 
As I mentioned in my last report, I spent the weekend down in Sebastian, Texas with Daniel Cavazos, the brother (2 years younger) of Martin Cavazos, who died in 1967 during Operation Beaver Cage. I have to admit that I was very nervous going down there to dig around in what I knew was sacred and sensitive ground - the boyhood memories of a man whose only brother went off to some faraway war and then never returned alive. It is an unfortunate truth of war that I cannot tiptoe around; while the story is rich in heroism, valor, and brotherhood, it was set upon a stage of destruction, death, and loss.

Luckily though, Daniel understood the mission and was very forthcoming and willing to help. Of course, we talked about his brother’s death, but perhaps more importantly, we talked about who Martin was to Daniel, to his family, and to the entire town of Sebastian where he’s buried in the cemetery by a road that’s named in his honor. 

I learned about one of Daniel’s favorite memories of Martin. It was a hot July day when Daniel was just eight and Marty, ten. They’d been playing outside with their neighborhood friend, Mondo, when a rain came so torrential that it turned the wide and deep ditches on the sides of the road into raging little rivers. So then, here comes Marty (he was “the smart one”) with the bright idea to build a boat. The boys gathered wood, tin and various other pointless materials and got to work. It took a while to build the craft, just big enough for the three of them, but they hastily got the job done and eased it out into the water. Marty got in first, then Daniel, and then Mondo. To make a long story short, Daniel told me (shaking his head and chuckling), the boat sank.

“The moral of the story is...” he then said, “If Marty would have returned home, Sebastian, Texas would be better.”

There is more to tell, but for today, I wish to leave it just there, where Daniel left that story with me and with his words; simple and sublime.