Bob's Blog

For the second, third or even fourth generation offsprings from the original eleven siblings of Gerardo and Manuelita Collazo, from Laredo, Texas, permit me to give you a little Collazo history lesson. 

You see, Gerardo and Manuelita Collazo had ten sons and one daughter, and the family all lived in Laredo, Texas. Our extended family is derived from this family.

Now, during World War II, they had 3 sons serving overseas at the same time.  Uncle Pete (Tio Pedro) and Uncle Rodolfo (Tio Fito), were both in the Army; and Uncle Ignacio (Tio Nacho), was in the Navy.  Towards the end of WWII, Uncle Luis Manuel (Tio Meme) served in the 2nd Infantry, Army detaining Japanese POWs. Uncle George (Tio Choche) was in the Navy, AND in the Air Force (not at the same time but in back-to-back tours). Uncle Raul (Tio Rule’) was in the Air Force before Vietnam.  Uncle Oscar was in the Navy during Vietnam. Uncle Fernando (Tio Nando) was in the Air Force. I remember Tio Nando during his time of active duty that we went to see him at Lackland AFB; he was the MP (Military Police) on duty at the gate, with the most perfect saluting I ever saw! The daughter born to Gerardo and Manuelita, our Aunt Trine, was married to an Air Force Airman during WW II, our Uncle Oscar Medina, so we want to salute him on this day. An interesting quote from Cousin Jesse Medina who stated that his Dad, Tio Oscar, had it rough during the war since he never left the States and was stationed in Florida!

A big salute to our Uncle Oscar Collazo, who by the way, is the uncle who we would affectionately call our Collazo Submarine Man. You see our Uncle Oscar served in the Navy as a Chief Non-Commission Officer in a nuclear submarine… very specifically, he was the “Chief of the Boat” of the USS Mariano G. Vallejo, and actually is a “Plankholder” of that submarine which means he was on the original crew when it was commissioned. 

A big salute also this Veterans Day to our Cousin Christopher Collazo, son of Romeo and Sharon Collazo, and Grandson of Uncle Oscar, who is active duty US Navy, and just graduated from Submarine Training School!  Talk about being Navy Proud! Our very own second-generation Collazo Submarine Man! Chris, guess you know you have big shoes to follow…in the footsteps and legacy of Great Collazo Military Men! 

Now to show that the Collazo Family military tradition continues, we want to also salute all the Collazo Veterans, as well as the Collazo-related family Veterans that have served: My dear brother, William Collazo, Army Physician; Tio Nacho’s Son, Cousin Orlando Collazo, Navy; Tio Huero’s Son and Daughter, Cousin Joe Collazo, Jr., Navy, and Cousin Diana’s husband, Gilbert Shely, Air Force; Tio Pedro’s Sons, Cousin Pete Collazo, Jr, Army, and Cousin Javier Collazo, Army; Tio Fito’s Sons, Cousin Rodolfo Collazo, Jr., Marine Corps, and Cousin Pablo Rene Collazo, Navy; Tio Meme’s Son, Cousin Luis George (Choche), Navy, and Choche’s son, Luis Rogelio Collazo, Marine Corps; Cousin Gina’s Son, Geronimo Villareal, Marine Corps; Cousin Yolanda’s Son, Fabian Mendoza, III, Army. Last, but not least, this writer, Bob Collazo, Jr., is a proud Army Veteran.

Active Duty: I would like to send out a big salute to our Cousin Yolanda’s husband, our very own home-grown, active duty Army Colonel Fabian Mendoza! A very special mention also goes out to Cousin Yolanda and Fabian’s Son-in-law, Scott Miroddi, who is active duty Army and is presently stationed in Iraq. Yolanda’s daughter, Michelle Miroddi, stated that Scott will be back this month so let’s say a special prayer for his safe return.

I would also like to mention and honor my Uncle, Ernesto Elizondo, on my maternal side of my family. He was my Mother’s Beloved Brother, and proudly served in the US Navy during WW II.

Bottom line – We salute all Veterans today and send them warm regards!           

Certainly, with our big family, the Collazo and Family Military legend continues…

Happy Veteran’s Day!

Robert Collazo, 11/11/11

At 24 years old, Peter was an Olympic ski jumper, and was really good;
But fled Slovenia because he was expected to fight for the German army.
He made a small fortune, as an inventor, even before the war ended;
Then patented a weaving machine designed for use by disabled folks,
Which were many; and made 100,000 Swiss francs from it.

After WWII ended, Peter invented a perfume atomizer spray
That is still in use today;
As well as more than 400 patents; but not all turned up well
Including his plastic zipper which melted when ironed;
Not knowing it would be a hit if he would have just used metal.

In 1998, Peter Florjancic finally returned home to Slovenia,
Thinking he would return back home to die.
But at 92, is still very active and still going strong.
His inventions are still winning awards and accolades;
And has never been sick lifelong.

Robert Collazo, 4/14/11

This is dedicated to my Slovenian-descended friend, Rudy; hope you are well!!

I had just bought a new vehicle six months before, and never gave it a second thought that it would go out on me in the middle of a cold Friday night in West Texas on the way to San Antonio. But there I was, stuck on the side of that dark, lonely highway, and my new truck wouldn’t start. Well, I couldn’t just sit there and freeze all night. So, I got off my truck, and when that cold wind hit me, I thought what did I get into now?

A few miles before, it had begun to sleet, and though it was not coming down too hard, the road was beginning to take on that icy, sheen look. I thought about which way I should start walking.  In one direction, the closest town south was about 9 miles away, and the other way, I knew it was more than twenty.

My walk south hadn’t been more than 10-15 minutes, when a loud, souped up truck was coming up the road. The surprise was when that stranger stopped and asked me if that pickup truck down the road was mine, and if so, gestured me to climb in. I thought it odd that the stranger looked about in his late 70s or 80s.

The stranger told me that a new pickup truck in his neck of the woods wouldn’t last long out on the highway without being stolen, and said we’d better hurry to go it before it disappeared. In the time the stranger picked me up to the time we got to my truck, the man had told his whole life story. That he was a retired mechanic, all his kids were dead, and he had outlived all his other relatives.

We arrived at my truck’s location and the stranger stated that all he had was ten foot chain that he pull me with, and I exclaimed that the chain wasn’t long enough! All the stranger said, was not to worry since he just lived up the road “a bit”, and wouldn’t be driving too fast anyway. Yeah, right!

You can imagine my surprise when we got on that highway and the speed at which he pulled me was somewhere around 80-85 mph! The only thing that stranger didn’t lie about was that he did live relatively close by and ten minutes later we were driving into his driveway.  The stranger told me that I could use the pay phone at the corner store, and have someone pick me up.  He also told me that I should give him my truck keys and to come back on Sunday, and my truck would be ready to go.  I thought to myself, can I trust this stranger?  He already had saved me, and kept me off that cold highway, so why shouldn’t I?  So, I gave him my keys and I thanked him.  I then walked as he suggested to the pay phone, to call my Brother Frank.

A couple of hours later when Frank had picked me up, he couldn’t believe I had “given my keys” to a stranger, and then felt like a fool since I had not even got his name!  Somehow, like I explained to my brother, it all felt “right”.  He called me a fool (very eloquently in the Spanish language), and as he kept chewing on me.  Anyway, I pretended to be asleep on the way to San Antonio to keep my brother from chewing me out again.  For those of you that know my Brother Frank, surely you understand how I felt, right?

That following Sunday, I took a Greyhound bus back to the Stranger’s house in Mason, Texas.  I walked from the station, to the Stranger’s house, and found a note from him on his front door.  The note stated that he had worked on my truck and all that was needed was a timing chain adjustment, and my truck was good “as new”.   So, I knocked on his door, and when he didn’t answer, looked around for him, and realized that the house looked totally abandoned.  In fact, it looked like no one had lived in it for years!

My thought then was that the stranger had just gone to the store or something.  So, I waited awhile for him.  After an hour or so, and feeling impatient, and thinking and feeling just about what my Brother had called me, I looked down his long driveway, saw my truck, and didn’t quite feel like a fool any longer!   Then I saw another vehicle behind my truck under a very dusty tarp. I pulled the tarp off and found what appeared to be that souped-up truck. However, this time, the motor looked like it was in the middle of an overhaul. That couldn’t be right. For the other night, it had been running great!

My mind was surely playing games, I thought. So, I got in my truck and found that it started right up as the Stranger had noted.  I then drove to the nearest ranch house, about a mile away. When I asked the gentleman that greeted me there if he had seen the neighbor lately, his faced got grim. It seemed that his neighbor had had a heart attack and died about 6 months back, he said.

How can that be, I thought?

Robert Collazo, originally posted on 10/20/08, and reposted on 1/5/11.

It was very cold that morning many years ago.  I was shivering to the point where I actually caught myself shaking.  Smelling wood smoke from somebody’s fireplace somewhere far away surely didn’t help either, and I imagined whoever it was around that fire were all nice, warm and cuddly.  It was December in Texas, and it was deer hunting season.  My baby brother Eddie and I were up in a tree deer blind in what we called my Dad’s “Ranch”, even though it was just a few acres in Medina County, Texas.  My brother was sound asleep in a warm sleeping bag next to me, and I was jealous of him because I was so very cold.

Looking out that deer blind, which was really only a wooden plank atop a tree with no protection from the wind, I had a great view.  From there I could see a wide panorama of that whole side of that hill, and it was beautiful.  The oak, mixed in with some maple trees, all were ablaze with red and burnt orange.  However, along with all the beauty I also recall the cedar trees biting into my nose, letting me know that they were also there, and it made my nose run.  The wind was blowing probably around 15 to 20 and I assumed that was the reason I was so cold.

My four brothers, and I used to call this a “mountain” when we were kids.  It was way up in the central Hill Country of Texas.  To get there from San Antonio, where we lived, we took Highway 36 North; through Bandera, and once you passed through the little town of Medina towards Kerville, it was just a few more miles to “Mesa Verde”, which was the name of the land around there.

I recall when my Dad, brothers, and I would go there, it was a adventure in itself.  A small, winding gravel road would take you up the mountain where getting there meant you sometimes saw the bottom of ravines or gullies on either side of the narrow road.  Driving up I always thought or imagined I was going up a mountain pass in Colorado looking for gold, and blazing a trail in the 1800′s with a horse and a couple of mules tagging behind through a rugged mountain pass somewhere.

Now I heard my brother stirring, telling me that he was quite hungry.  I told him to hush.  After a little while, I heard him say again, “I’m hungry!” over and over.  I kept telling him that it was too windy to start a fire for breakfast and to go back to sleep.  However, after more than a hundred times of hearing his requests, I relented and told him okay, and to get his stuff so that we could get down from the blind.

I knew better.  I knew I should not have started a camp fire that morning.  While cooking breakfast for Eddie, all of a sudden, a big gust of wind came into our small camp fire area, and the small fire we started for breakfast had literally jumped and had turned into a line of fire about a hundred yards long down the side of our gravel road!  Never in my 23 years of life had I seen anything like this!  All the dry grass around our small camp house was also on fire and Eddie and I, along with our other brother Frank, who of was pretty upset, and our friend Rick were trying to stomp it out with whatever coats or jackets we had on hand.  However, we didn’t seem to be making any headway, and a decision was made among the four of us, to get help (because this was long ago in a time where no one had cellphones).  So, I ran down the gravel road to our nearest neighbor, who had a phone, so they could call the fire department.

When I got back to our camp site, most of the fire was out except for a few spots that were still smoldering, and we quickly got them out.  By the time the fire department came up the mountain from the town of Medina, every bit of the fire was out.  It was a good thing that the wind was blowing up towards our road or else that whole mountain would have started on fire, I later thought.  The only thing hanging around after the fire was out was our embarrassment and dignity over the whole matter.  How could you have started a fire with this wind, the fire captain said?  Leave it to a foolish one, and a hungry baby brother.

My only other regret that morning was that all throughout my time spent in the military, I never used my good Army jacket and I was always had it clean and pressed in a closet somewhere looking really nice.  I always thought after getting out of the Army I could proudly wear it.  Well, looking around that morning after the fire, I spotted my once pristine military jacket all full of holes from the fire.  After so much caring I did for that jacket throughout my career, there it was on the still smoldering ground half-way burnt up and all holey now.  No matter, I thought because my brothers and I and friend were all alive and safe.

To this day, I don’t recall if we ever did make breakfast for Eddie that morning.

A fellow San Antonian, and an Honor student at JFK High
Jorge was a proud JFK Rocket playing football in his green and white.
He joined the Marines the next year whereby
He worked hard to rise up to corporal with the speed of light;
Where his inner strength and character you could not deny.

Stationed in Afghanistan with his 3rd Battalion troupe,
He was known for settling disputes with his close-knit group.
On his last patrol near the Kajaki Dam,
Jorge stepped on an IED and died.
He gave his life for all of us; for our freedom, for his Uncle Sam.

People have said those explicit photos
Like those depicting him killed on the battlefield
That we should keep them away from the public eye, and we should not show.
If we do that, how then will our kids know what the price of freedom is?
Let’s remember our brother Jorge who is now watching over us with the Lord with sweet aglow.

Lance Cpl. Bryant Whalen says goodbye on the battlefield to his friend, Cpl. Jorge Villarreal, after Villarreal stepped on an improvised explosive device Oct. 17 and died near the Kajaki Dam in Helmand province, Afghanistan. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Here’s an image of Villarreal still alive with his buddies. It was taken before the patrol began.

Cpls. Kevin Ivie, Sam Garcia, Jorge Villarreal and Jonathan Eckert, all of India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines, prepare to head out for a patrol from Forward Operating Base Zeebrugge on Oct. 17. Villarreal died on the patrol after stepping on an IED. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Let’s keep Jorge in our hearts!

Semper Fi, Marine!!

Robert Collazo, 12/03/10

I had just bought a new vehicle six months before, and never gave it a second thought that it would go out on me in the middle of a cold Friday night in West Texas on the way to San Antonio. But there I was, stuck on the side of that dark, lonely highway, and my new truck wouldn’t start. Well, I couldn’t just sit there and freeze all night. So, I got off my truck, and when that cold wind hit me, I thought what did I get into now?

A few miles before, it had begun to sleet, and though it was not coming down too hard, the road was beginning to take on that icy, sheen look. I thought about which way I should start walking.  In one direction, the closest town south was about 9 miles away, and the other way, I knew it was more than twenty.

My walk south hadn’t been more than 10-15 minutes, when a loud, souped up truck was coming up the road. The surprise was when that stranger stopped and asked me if that pickup truck down the road was mine, and if so, gestured me to climb in. I thought it odd that the stranger looked about in his late 70s or 80s.

The stranger told me that a new pickup truck in his neck of the woods wouldn’t last long out on the highway without being stolen, and said we’d better hurry to go it before it disappeared. In the time the stranger picked me up to the time we got to my truck, the man had told his whole life story. That he was a retired mechanic, all his kids were dead, and had outlived all his relatives.

We arrived at my truck’s location and the stranger stated that all he had was ten foot chain that he pull me with, and I exclaimed that the chain wasn’t long enough! All the stranger said, was not to worry since he just lived up the road “a bit”, and wouldn’t be driving too fast anyway. Yeah, right!

You can imagine my surprise when we got on that highway and the speed at which he pulled me was somewhere around 80-85 mph! The only thing that stranger didn’t lie about was that he did live relatively close by and ten minutes later we were driving into his driveway.  The stranger told me that I could use the pay phone at the corner store, and have someone pick me up.  He also told me that I should give him my truck keys and to come back on Sunday, and my truck would be ready to go.  I thought to myself, can I trust this stranger?  He already had saved me, and kept me off that cold highway, so why shouldn’t I?  So, I gave him my keys and I thanked him.  I then walked as he suggested to the pay phone, to call my Brother Frank.

A couple of hours later when Frank had picked me up, he couldn’t believe I had “given my keys” to a stranger, and then felt like a fool since I had not even got his name!  Somehow, like I explained to my brother, it all felt “right”.  He called me a fool (very eloquently in the Spanish language), and as he kept chewing on me, I fell asleep on the way to San Antonio.  For those of you that know my Brother Frank, surely you understand how I felt, right?

That following Sunday, I took a Greyhound bus back to the Stranger’s house in Mason, Texas.  I walked from the station, to the Stranger’s house, and found a note from him on his front door.  The note stated that he had worked on my truck and all that was needed was a timing chain adjustment, and my truck was good “as new”.   So, I knocked on his door, and when he didn’t answer, looked around for him, and realized that the house looked totally abandoned.  In fact, it looked like no one had lived in it for years!

My thought then was that the stranger had just gone to the store or something.  So, I waited awhile for him.  After an hour or so, and feeling impatient, and thinking and feeling just about what my Brother had called me, I looked down his long driveway, saw my truck, and didn’t quite feel like a fool any longer!   Then I saw another vehicle behind my truck under a very dusty tarp. I pulled the tarp off and found what appeared to be that souped-up truck. However, this time, the motor looked like it was in the middle of an overhaul. That couldn’t be right. For the other night, it had been running great!

My mind was surely playing games, I thought. So, I got in my truck and found that it started right up as the Stranger had noted.  I then drove to the nearest ranch house, about a mile away. When I asked the gentleman that greeted me there if he had seen the neighbor lately, his faced got grim. It seemed that his neighbor had had a heart attack and died about 6 months back, he said. How can that be, I thought?

Robert Collazo, posted on 10/03/08; and modified on 10/20/08.