Members of a group in Brownsville are the guardians of a U.S. flag saved during the fall of Saigon, and a helicopter that was shot down in Vietnam.

Tony Garcia is a Vietnam veteran, and the founder of Warriors United in Arms.

“I look at freedom as an oak tree,” Garcia said. “That oak tree has to be watered with American blood. But when it hits the tree, it grows and blossoms."

During the Vietnam War, over 50,000 U.S. service members lost their lives, and over 2 million men and women served, including Garcia. 

“You leave the war, but the war doesn't leave you,” Garcia said.

In 2012, Garcia founded Warriors United in Arms in Brownsville so he and other veterans could give back by supporting each other.

“They have seen what my eyes have seen, they have felt what I have felt,” Garcia said.

Warriors United in Arms also works to honor the memory of service members who died fighting in Vietnam by safeguarding pieces of history.

One of those pieces of history is a restored Vietnam era "Huey" helicopter that’s on display at Brownsville’s Veterans Park.

“This helicopter had been shot down twice in Vietnam and it was refurbished twice and it was brought back to the United States and sold as surplus,” Garcia said.

The previous owner was planning to recycle the helicopter into coke cans when the group found it in Fort Worth, Garcia said.

Garcia said when looks at the aircraft, he still remembers the smells from the war.

“The aviation fuel, the smell of dry blood, the smell of gunpowder,” Garcia said. “This helicopter — like our flag — is like the American soldier. It might go down once or twice, but you never stay down."

Warriors United in Arms has an American flag on display that member Larry Jokl referred to as “the last known soldier to leave Vietnam."

The flag was torn and shot at during the fall of Saigon.

Jokl said two Vietnamese soldiers tried to desecrate the flag because they were angry they were not being evacuated.

Jokl ended up saving the flag and taking it home.

The flag is currently displayed at the IBC Bank in Brownsville, where Warriors United in Arms members meet once a month.

“This is what the 54,000 died for in Vietnam, and that's why we keep this flag,” Jokl said. 

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