D-Day vet instilled legacy of service in his family

WARNER ROBINS -- Eustacio Rivera's service to his country didn't end when he came home from World War II.

The 97-year-old Army veteran of D-Day instilled such a sense of duty and patriotism in his children that all five of them went on to join the Army and become combat veterans.

Rivera lives with his son, Tony, in Warner Robins. But it's not the family's service that Tony mentioned when asked what he thinks about on Veterans Day.

"Our friends," he said. "The people who loved this country just as much as we do and their part to make America a democracy."

The message that Tony and his siblings received growing up, he said, was along the lines of what President John F. Kennedy told the nation: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

"It had to be the right message, because all of us joined the military," Tony said. "All of us served this country and have the utmost gratitude and commitment to the nation."

Eustacio Rivera is a native of Puerto Rico and owned a grocery store when he was drafted. Soon afterward, he lost his business and his wife. He had to close the store because there was no one to operate it while he was gone, and his wife died a month after he was deployed. He blamed her death on stress.

"I lost everything," Rivera said.

Although he speaks English well, he has difficulty hearing and understands Spanish better, so he mostly spoke through his son.

He would have stayed in the Army after the war, he said, but he had to return home to look after his two sons. He married twice more and had three more children. That included two daughters, Rosa and Ruth, and all of his children served in the Army.

Tony said his two brothers, Angel and Efrain, served in Vietnam and saw a lot of combat. Neither of them like to talk about it. Tony and his two sisters served in other conflicts that he said he can't discuss, but he said they are all officially combat veterans.

Rosa died of cancer, and his other siblings are living elsewhere.

SIZE WAS ADVANTAGE AT D-DAY

Eustacio Rivera was part of the second wave on D-Day. At that time he was 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 108 pounds. He said he was drafted despite his size because he did well on the aptitude test and because his size was considered an advantage for his job in the Army: carrying ammunition and other supplies to troops during combat.

"He's a small target," said Tony, who is an engineer at Robins Air Force Base.

Eustacio Rivera noted that when he was drafted, it sent shock waves through his neighborhood. Many people had assumed he would be passed over due to his size or other reasons.

"They thought the Army was going to draft everyone after that," Tony said.

Tony and his siblings grew up in Puerto Rico, and they did not say the Pledge of Allegiance in school there, but his father taught it to them at home.

Although World War II veterans are fast dwindling in number, if you believe Eustacio Rivera it will be a long time before the obituary is written on the last one in Middle Georgia.

"I want to live 25 more years," he said.

Less than three years shy of 100, he has trouble with his hearing and sight, but otherwise he is in good health. He demonstrated his daily workout routine in the backyard: He trots with a 4 inch by 4 inch piece of lumber while tossing it into the air.

"How many 97-year-old fellows will you see doing that?" Tony asked. "That's good coordination."

Tony said his father has always exercised and eaten healthy food. Eustacio Rivera doesn't eat fried food and avoids salt and sodas. He does have a glass or two of wine each day.

"He can be feisty and hard-headed, but he makes everybody laugh," Tony said. "He occasionally plays the guitar."

Eustacio Rivera has grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but the family's legacy of service hasn't extended to them.

"They don't have the guts," Tony said.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 9:48 PM with the headline "D-Day vet instilled legacy of service in his family ."