Standing before the American and United States Marine Corps flags, retired Marine Sgt. Maj. Reynaldo Rivera was a portrait of military pride, clad in his immaculate service dress uniform, his chest heavy with medals and ribbons. It was a quantum leap from the garb he wore as a member of the violent Ghost Town gang that once trolled the West Side neighborhood.

A shootout with a rival gang changed his life. In March 1964, a Bexar County judge gave him a choice: jail or the military.

At 16, he enlisted in the Marines. He served four tours in Vietnam and was wounded in action in 1967. More than two decades later, he served in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. He was awarded a Purple Heart and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.

During a recent visit to his old hometown, he stood before 250 people at the Good Samaritan Community Services Center, the keynote speaker at a ceremony held in honor of veterans and the families that supported them.

“It was a privilege for me to address my community and my fellow Latinos how I used to be and how the military helped me,” Rivera said after the event. “I’m not talking to strangers, I’m talking to people from my culture, this was icing on the cake for me.”

Though he lives in Phoenix now, Rivera said his heart still beats in the West Side. He attended Carbajal Elementary, Rhodes Middle School, Brackenridge High School and St. Timothy’s Catholic Church.

He lived three blocks from Good Sam in a house his father built. In the early 1950s, his family’s migrant work prepared him for his life away from the area called El Ghost Town because of its barren landscape and black dirt roads.

His tours of duty included Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he said he saw people perish trying to reach freedom, and Africa as the noncommissioned officer in charge of enlisted staff at the embassy with Ambassador Shirley Temple Black.

Jill Oettinger, CEO of Good Samaritan, said many of the veterans at the ceremony where Rivera spoke attended the center’s youth programs, as Rivera did.

“Each year we come together to recognize these men and women who have selflessly dedicated their lives to our country in so many ways,” Oettinger said. “We will continue to honor and care for them, not only today, but for the rest of our lives.”

The master of ceremonies, retired Texas Army National Guard Lt. Col. Cecilia Prado, who also grew up in the area, said she was proud of the successes of men and women from the community.

“It’s such a sense of pride and accomplishment to come back,” she said, near paintings of Chicano soldiers by artist and Vietnam veteran Robert Sifuentes. “It’s humbling to be able to share this with people in the neighborhood. It’s such a patriotic group.”

Some of the men attending were members of the Ghost Town Survivors, a group of former gang members and veterans who have sponsored food drives for seniors at Good Samaritan and delivered Christmas gifts to residents in the community.

Ghost Town Survivor and Vietnam veteran Juan Guajardo recited “The Bullet Followed Him Home,” a poem he wrote after attending funerals of friends who died on San Antonio streets after serving in Vietnam.

Rivera looked on, unblinking, as his friend read a line: “When they left combat, there was no more death, no more screams.” After the program, Rivera greeted fellow survivors, friends and veterans, near streets they walked as young compañeros.

Rivera said his wish is for his funeral procession to travel down 19th Street, where his life led him to the Marine Corps and decades of service to his nation.

“I did my duty for God, country and Corps,” he said. “And when I die, I will be buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio.”