was at the Veterans Administration hospital in Long Beach -LSB- California -RSB- , after they shipped him home , '' he said . The Marine was 32 . `` There are people that are worse off than I was , '' Tina Valdez recalled his father always saying . `` I enlisted , and I served . I knew what I was getting into . And if this is the worst that could happen to me , well then , so be it . '' When notification came weeks ago from the Defense Department that Valdez 's name would be added to the Wall , there was no explanation with it . Valdez 's family previously thought since he had n't been killed during war , Enrique Valdez could n't be on the wall . Comrades and others told the family that he could be added to `` The Wall `` as long as we could show that his death was a result of his -LSB- war -RSB- injuries , '' said daughter Tina Valdez . `` And when my father passed away , they put it on the death certificate , long before we even knew that this was
WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Fifteen years after his death , and after his family fought a very long bureaucratic battle with the government , Enrique Valdez 's name was added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial . Rick Valdez looks at his father 's name on the Wall on Monday . Valdez was a Marine gunnery sergeant wounded by shrapnel in August 1969 , combat that left him a quadriplegic . Since his death in 1994 , his family has been waiting for the Defense Department to answer their requests that Valdez be included on `` The Wall . '' On Memorial Day , his family finally got their wish , as they watched his name officially added to `` The Wall . '' His name was added to the registry after the Department of Defense declared he was eligible because he died from his war injuries . Rick Valdez was 7 when his father was deployed to Vietnam . `` The night he had to go to the bus station for his second tour of duty , that was the last time I saw him walking , '' the son recalled . `` The next time we saw him