In 2007 Ray was still remembered by his Brownwood buddy, Alan Hawkins, who continues to tend his grave.

Raymond Rodriguez Delgado was born on December 28, 1949, to Nicolas and Inez Rodriguez in Brown County, Texas. The names of Raymond's siblings are not known. He was raised in the community of Brownwood, where he attended elementary and high school. In the spring of 1967 he moved to Watsonville, California, and enrolled in Watsonville High School. In November of that year Delgado dropped out of school.

Raymond Delgado enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in January 1968, following his eighteenth birthday. He received his basic and school-of-infantry training at Camp Pendleton near San Diego and in June, qualified as a marine rifleman. On July 14 he joined Company C, 1st Battalion, 4th Regiment of the 3rd Marine Division located at the Vandergrift combat base near Ca Lu, Quang Tri Province.

In January 1969 the 3rd Marine Division reinforced the 9th Marine Division in Operation Dewey Canyon, a final push to break up North Vietnamese supply lines and installations in the A Shau Valley. Company C participated in the many sweeps that took place through March.

Delgado, who had moved up from rifleman to team leader, was on a search-and-clear patrol on March 1, 1969, when his unit was attacked and came under heavy mortar fire. A fragment of a mortar round struck Lance Corporal Raymond Rodriguez Delgado in the head resulting in his death. His body was recovered and returned to Brownwood, Texas, for burial.

(VVMW; WHSM; Brown County Texas Birth Certificate Info))