When Hector Sanchez left Manhattan’s 98th Street for Fort Gordon, Georgia, in 1966, he was just a 19-year-old “young punk,” as he puts it, fresh out of high school and unsure of the world ahead. What followed was a lifetime marked by service — to his country, his community, and his fellow veterans.
Drafted at first but eager to set his own course, Sanchez enlisted in the U.S. Army, trained in the swamps of Fort Polk, Louisiana, and volunteered for one of the most dangerous jobs in Vietnam — helicopter door gunner with the famed First Air Cavalry Division. Stationed in the Central Highlands and Mekong Delta, Sanchez flew into numerous combat zones, rescuing wounded soldiers, supporting ground troops, and sometimes getting shot down himself.
“We went down twice,” he recalled. “You don’t think about it — you just do your job and take care of the guy next to you.” His bravery earned him two Bronze Stars, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and other commendations. “It made a man out of me,” Sanchez said. “It taught me to look out for others before myself.”
After four years in the Army, including an extended 18-month tour in Vietnam, Sanchez returned home and started a new chapter — this time in civilian life. He built a long career as an audio-visual engineer for Merrill Lynch and other major Wall Street firms, working across Lower Manhattan and even witnessing the September 11th attacks from directly across the street. With a video camera rolling, Sanchez captured footage of both planes striking the Twin Towers — a haunting record he later turned over to his employer. “It was horrible,” he said quietly. “The dust, the people, the chaos — I’ll never forget it.”
Now 77 and living in Shirley since 1970, Sanchez has spent decades serving veterans and his community with the same devotion he showed in uniform. He volunteers at the VFW Post 414 in Center Moriches, selling poppies to support fellow veterans and helping raise thousands for local food pantries, soup kitchens, and nursing homes. Through Boots on the Ground, he helps distribute food, toys, and turkeys to veterans’ families during the holidays — sometimes buying groceries himself when supplies run low.
His body bears the scars of service. He battles congestive heart failure, kidney disease, diabetes, and lung damage — ailments tied to Agent Orange exposure and his time at Ground Zero. Yet he continues to volunteer, even as he slows down. “Some days I wake up 100 percent, other days only ten,” he said. “But you do the best you can.” He jokes about having his own wing at the VA hospital in Stony Brook.
Sanchez and his wife raised three children — Steven, Cynthia, and Jennifer — and put both daughters through college. His pride in family runs as deep as his pride in country. “I’m not sorry I went,” he said. “Vietnam made me who I am. I’d do it again if I had to.”
During the East Moriches Veterans Day Parade, you’ll find Hector Sanchez on Main Street selling poppies and shaking hands, his smile framed by the years and his heart still full of purpose. “That money goes right back to the vets,” he said. “Blankets, food, help — whatever they need.”
Through war and peace, sickness and service, Hector Sanchez’s story is one of resilience and devotion — a life defined not by what he endured, but by how much he gives back.