NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – David Heminger was in the Army for 12 years and left as a captain in 1978.

“I served in Chu Lai Vietnam, I was Chinook pilot – a stage 47 pilot in 1969-1970,” Heminger says.

These days Heminger spends his time commemorating veterans of all generations through the River Chase Veteran’s Association.

The association maintains a garden filled with bricks in the heart of the River Chase neighborhood. Each brick is engraved with the respective veterans' names and branches they served in. One of the bricks even honors a veteran who fought in the War of 1812.

“In this neighborhood, of [the] 1700 lots or so in the River Chase neighborhood, my guess is at least 50% of the people that are here are veterans,” Heminger says.

The garden’s most recent veteran honored is one of its youngest — Marine Lance Cpl. Guillermo “Willie” Perez.

“Understanding what the family has gone through and seeing the family in the news and so forth,” Heminger says, “It really did hit hard.”

There were several speakers at a recent ceremony honoring Perez, including Lt. Col. Mark House, who is a Marine and Perez’ former ROTC instructor at New Braunfels High School.

“From this day forward when you hear the word maintenance it will put a smile on your face because it will remind you of [Perez]” House said, looking at the Perez family.

Perez’s family received flowers during the ceremony and were the first people to see the brick that will forever honor him in the garden.