City officials rename a West Tampa park for the Vila brothers, who served from World War II to Desert Storm.
By Associated Press
Published July 3, 2005
TAMPA - When the seven Vila brothers swap war stories, they cover everything from World War II's battle at Guadalcanal, to the frozen foxholes of Korea in the 1950s, the jungles of Vietnam and the fight in the Persian Gulf.
They have served in the military across seven decades, from 1942 to 2003, with only a few interruptions. They own Purple Hearts, Navy Crosses and dozens of other honors.
Saturday, Tampa officials renamed a West Tampa neighborhood park in their honor. West Pines Park and Playground, 700 N Armenia Ave., became Vila Brothers Park.
At the ceremony, the men, all residents of the Tampa area, watched a Marine Corps color guard present the flag, to the strains of the national anthem.
"We were proud to serve, and never expected a reward for our service," Hector Vila, 74, told the crowd. "Never would we have done anything less for the love of our country and her freedom."
Their parents were the late Carmen and Wilfredo Vila. She was a homemaker, and he worked in a bakery and rolled cigars to support his 14 children. The couple also had seven daughters, four of whom are still living.
The eldest son, Joe, now 81, and Willie, now 80, enlisted in the U.S. Marines only weeks after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and in 1942, were among the Allied forces invading Guadalcanal in the South Pacific.
Joe was badly injured and spent a year in a hospital, while Willie went on to fight in New Guinea, Palau, New Caledonia and Okinawa. He also was injured, but recovered.
In 1944, Wilfredo Jr., 78, was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in Europe, where he helped free prisoners of war from German camps.
By 1952, Hector, now 74, was dodging bullets from frozen foxholes as an assistant machine gunner and ammunition carrier with the Marines in Korea, while Robert, now 73, enlisted in the Navy that year and served aboard a ship off the coast of Korea.
In 1960, Denio, now 67, was drafted into the Army, and became a sharpshooter and a medical specialist who later led combat medical training at what is now Tampa International Airport.
In 1962, Tony, now 61, enlisted in the Navy. He served during the Cuban Missile Crisis, fought insurgents in Panama, Colombia, Venezuela and Aruba, and later was a medic with a Marine helicopter unit in Vietnam.
As a member of the Naval Reserve, he took part in Desert Storm and Desert Shield in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iraq.
