Singer Freddy Fender Served in the Marine Corps During the Cold War

Freddy Fender is best known for his 1975 country and pop music crossover hits "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" and "Before the Next Teardrop Falls."

From 1953 to 1956, Fender served in the Marine Corps as a gunner on an M47 Patton tank. In 1955, he was stationed with the 3rd Marine Division on Okinawa, an island then administered by the United States until 1971 when it was returned to Japan.

Little did Fender know that he would become famous and return to Okinawa as a rock and country star. In December 1982, he returned to the island to perform for the troops.

The Marines were so enamored by the crooner's performance that his old unit, the 3rd Marine Division, invited him to drive a M60 tank through the hills of the Central Training Area on Okinawa.

"When I was in, the Corps was the finest fighting force on Earth. From what I've seen on this tour, it still is," he told Okinawa Marine newspaper reporter Marine Corps Sgt. Ron Appling, following his M60 tank ride, Dec. 3, 1982.

"It has been a big thrill for me to be back here after all these years. The audiences have been so appreciative too. It's been a real pleasure," he told Appling.

Following his Okinawa concert tour, Fender went on to entertain the troops in South Korea, mainland Japan, the Philippines, Guam and Hawaii.

Freddy Fender, born Baldemar Garza Huerta, June 4, 1937, in San Benito, Texas, died Oct. 14, 2006, at age 69 in Corpus Christi, Texas.

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