Joseph Mata Jr.: Just a Grunt, and Proud of It

By Al Rodriguez, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

Joseph ‘Jake’ Mata wanted to be a Marine. He quit high school at the age of 17 to enlist in the Marine Corps. Even though there were obstacles, including his mother, he became a ‘grunt’ Marine. 

Jake came from a big family of thirteen children. He grew up in East Chicago, Indiana but with so many children it was decided the oldest five would temporarily be sent to St. Vincent Orphanage in Fort Wayne, IN. As Jake explained, it was hard to find an apartment for thirteen kids. When he was reunited with his family, he attended Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School. After finishing elementary school, he attended Washington High School. Jake said he kind of fell into the wrong crowd and found his options limited. That’s when he decided it was time to make a change and quit school. He would later continue his education and earned a GED while in the Marines.

When Jake joined the Marines, his mom wasn’t happy because he was working and brought money into the household. Begrudgingly she signed the paperwork for him to enlist. Initially he was rejected because of his eyesight but that didn’t stop him. With the help of a Marine recruiter, he joined the Marine Corps Reserves. After three months, he was sent with the other reservists for Basic Training at Parris Island, South Carolina. Because he was a reservist they could not reject him. With the craziness of Basic, he asked himself “What the hell did I get into?” At 17 years old he was the youngest in his platoon. Most of the other reservists had attended college and were older. His drill instructor picked on him because of his youth and inexperience. Jake has many fond memories of the punishments he endured. 

Jake finished Basic and was sent to 4 weeks of Infantry Training Regiment (I.T.R.) He learned how to handle heavy weapons, M-60 machine guns, the 3.5 rocket launchers, and grenade launchers. He said infantry training taught him how to kill. Jake was then sent to Camp Pendleton in California for small arms and tactical training. In October of 1963, he was sent to Okinawa for repelling training. They went up 200 feet to the top of a mountain and then using two ropes he had to get to the bottom. When he looked down he told his trainer, “I ain’t going.” The Marines have a way of convincing you to do what they want and he made it down the right way. 

Jake was sent to the Philippines to learn jungle tactics and then to Japan for cold weather training at the base of Mount Fuji. After this, he was sent back stateside to Camp Pendleton and joined up with the 3/7, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, M (Mike) Company, a weapons battalion. Within months, they were mobilized and sent to Qui Nhon in central Vietnam. 

The 3/7 participated in Operation Starlite, the first major offensive conducted by a purely U.S. military unit during the Vietnam War in August 1965. It was an amphibious and helicopter assault against the 1st Viet Cong regiment in central Vietnam. Jake remembers how scared he was and the 105 degree temperature and high humidity. His company was ordered to bury V.C. bodies. He was assigned to pull the bodies to where the graves were being dug. After Jake saw the condition of the bodies, against orders he refused to recover bodies and instead dug the graves. 

Jake said he was always getting himself in trouble with the sergeants because of his tendency to say no, but not too much trouble because he still received the Good Conduct Medal when he was discharged. In Vietnam, they were on patrol for 2 to 3 weeks at a time. He remembers with sadness and anger when two of his buddies were killed. Thomas Fears from Gary hit a booby trap. Daniel Manzaro got a leg wound in a firefight and bled out before they could medevac him. 

Jake’s Vietnam duty ended while he was on patrol. They pulled him out of the field and told him to report to his Gunnery Sergeant. He thought he was in trouble, but the Gunny told him he was being sent home and to get his gear. He wanted to say goodbye to his buddies, but was told to get on the helicopter that was leaving. He returned to El Toro Marine Base in California where he was discharged. 

Unfortunately there was an airline mechanics strike and he couldn’t fly home. He spent his $800 back pay in 10 days. With no money to get home, he got a job in Santa Ana making Garcia fishing poles. He didn’t like the California heat and returned to East Chicago. Jake found a job at Inland Steel Company as a mechanic. 

Soon after, he met his future wife Francis at a dance at the Katherine House Boys and Girls Club. She didn’t want to have anything to do with him because her mother warned her about his being in the Marines. He found out where Francis worked and would walk her home every night; after a while she thought he wasn’t such a bad guy. They started dating and married on October 7, 1967. They have seven children, six girls and a boy, and twenty-seven grandkids. 

When asked about his time in Vietnam,  Jake said he was one of the lucky ones because he never got a scratch. Jake told me “The V.C. were never good enough to get me.” Jake has medical problems attributed to his Vietnam service and is receiving treatment at the V.A.

As he remembers the turbulent U.S. he returned to with all the protests and little appreciation for the military, at that time he thought “Why did I go to Vietnam?” In recent years when his daughter took him to a restaurant that was giving free meals to veterans, a patron there thanked him for his service; Jake said that made him feel good. 

Jake tries to go to the 3/7 reunions every year but sadly with medical problems he can’t always make it. Next year he is planning to go with his family because his weapons platoon commander 1st Lieutenant Thomas Draude, who became Brigadier General Thomas Draude, has retired and arranged a tour of Annapolis for them. 

Jake said he did not want to go on the Honor Flight but his daughter convinced him to send in an application. When he got the phone call that he was flying on October 27th, he was excited and called his daughter and told her “I’m in!”

He is looking forward to going to Washington D.C. The main thing he wants to see is the Vietnam Wall that honors his fallen comrades. It will be his first time.

Honor Flight is proud to honor you for your personal sacrifice and service to your country. Welcome home Jake!