GARDENA : Remains of GI Missing Since 1968 Identified

The remains of a soldier who disappeared in battle in Vietnam 25 years ago have been identified as those of a Gardena resident.

Raphael L. (Larry) Collazo was a 20-year-old Army private first class when he was lost March 17, 1968, while on patrol in Tien Giang Province in what was then South Vietnam.

“It was hard,” Al Collazo, 38, of Mesa, Ariz., said of his family’s 25-year wait to learn of his brother’s fate. “The constant waiting, the anticipating that somehow, some way he’s going to come back. But at least now we’ll have a place where we can remember him. At least he’s home.”

Raphael Collazo was a football player and student body president at George Washington High School in the mid-1960s, his brother said. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and promoted to sergeant.

Collazo’s parents, Rafael and Gloria Collazo, still reside in Gardena. He is also survived by a wife and daughter who was born after his death. A funeral with full military honors is scheduled at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood.