Vets remember July 4th, every day

Hardly a day goes by that Vietnam vet Roger Wakefield doesn’t get a wave,  a honk or some words of approval for the flags flying at  his First Street home.

“We have horns honking, people shouting at us, people who stop and say something. It happens almost daily,” said Wakefield who served two tours of duty in Vietnam and retired as a staff sergeant after eight years in the U.S. Marines.

As a patriot, Wakefield said, he flies the American flag , as a Marine vet he flies the red and gold Marine flag, and for  his best friend he flies the black  POW and MIA flag.

“My best friend was  1st Lt. Dean Rieter. He didn’t believe in the war, but he didn’t run off to Canada. He flew medevac. He was a school chum ... we used to double date. He lasted a half day. He went down on the first day, in first hour of his first mission.”

Wakefield and his wife Paula Trujillo Wakefield retired to Tucumcari several years after living in Phoenix.