HOUSTON – June 14, 2017, carries many celebrations with it.
It’s Flag Day, the U.S. Army’s 242nd birthday and in Houston it’s the day a local veteran will be honored at an Astros game.
“That’s one thing I’ll never regret in my life, being able to serve in the United States Army,” Basil Castro said.
He is a Rosenberg native, World War II veteran, and on Wednesday, he turned 100 years old.
It’s fair to say Castro has seen a lot in his lifetime.
“There’s proof in some of these pictures here,” Castro said as he showed a number of photos from his time in the service. “This is one in Saipan, the Philippine islands.”
“It was hard missing his family here, you know he left his family behind but he said you got to do what you got to do,” Albert Castro said.
Albert wasn’t yet born when his father was drafted into the Army. In 1944, Basil Castro, then 27, left his wife and two daughters to become a rifleman.
“I know he went to Japan right after they dropped the bomb. He was there after that and they, he’s seen a lot, he says he’s seen a lot,” Albert Castro said.
We're proud to honor Army PFC Basil Castro Sr., a WWII veteran celebrating his 100th birthday today, for tonight's Oxy Military Welcome. pic.twitter.com/JJMFOwoZfx
— Houston Astros (@astros) June 15, 2017
“You’d be surprised how many people are suffering like that in the whole world,” Basil Castro said.
“He would save his rations, his candies, and he would give it to the kids because they reminded him of his kids here,” Albert Castro said.
When Basil Castro came home in 1946, he began to grow his family.
He had seven children who went on to make several grandchildren. They went on to birth great-grandchildren.
And yes, there’s even a crop of great-great-grandchildren currently in the family. Most of them will gather at Minute Maid Park to celebrate Basil Castro’s birth and his love of the Astros.
“He’s a lifelong Astros fan. He never gives up on the Astros. They’ll be losing 10 to nothing he’ll sit there and watch them,” Albert Castro said.
Astros game and a BIG birthday!!
Posted by FOX 13's Chip Brewster on Wednesday, June 14, 2017
