Decorations register · Notice Nearby
No rights-safe contemporary likeness is on file. The record is the decoration and the writing, not an invented face.
Paul Anthony “Tony” Velazquez
1974–2003
Howitzer section chief (B Battery, 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery; VA #VeteranOfTheDay)
U.S. Army; 5th Battalion, 18th Field Artillery (Fort Sill); later B Battery, 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery, howitzer section chief; killed 2 Nov 2003 when CH-47 Chinook shot down near Fallujah
Documented decorations
Purple Heart
VA #VeteranOfTheDay (5 Mar 2023) states his wife received his Purple Heart. Do not invent an oak-leaf count.
Public sources
Bronze Star Medal
VA #VeteranOfTheDay states a Bronze Star presented with the Purple Heart after his death. Do not invent a Combat “V” or oak-leaf count.
Public sources
Paul Anthony “Tony” Velazquez’s Purple Heart and Bronze Star are named in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ #VeteranOfTheDay profile of his Army field artillery service in Iraq. This decorations page records those two types from that VA sentence. It will not invent a Combat “V” or an oak-leaf tally the paragraph does not carry.
Born in Paris, Tennessee, in July 1974 and raised in San Diego, Velazquez enlisted in 1992, served with field artillery at Fort Sill, and deployed in 2003 as a howitzer section chief with B Battery, 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery. On 2 November 2003 he was among sixteen service members killed when insurgents shot down a CH-47 Chinook near Fallujah; he was twenty-nine. His wife, Mary, received his Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, and the flag from his casket. The Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal are the published decoration names here.
This name is not yet on a war-roll essay. The decorations above are the documented public record this register will stand on until that essay is written.
A publisher register — not a verification
This decorations register is publisher-curated from public records — Medal of Honor Society citations, published general orders, and official Army, Navy, and Marine Corps biographies. It is not a verified-veteran product. Notice Nearby does not certify service and does not issue badges.
A paid or unpaid memorial does not enroll anyone here. Checkout, VET50, and a family’s mention of service on an obituary are not applications to this list. We add a name only when a public official source names the decoration.
Claiming a decoration that was not awarded is stolen valor. It is a disrespect to those who earned the medal and, in some cases, a federal crime. This register will not invent an award to fill a page.
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