Dying Vietnam Veteran Sees His Horses One Last Time In an Emotional Reunion

A dying veteran of the Vietnam War had one final wish: to say goodbye to his beloved horses.

Roberto Gonzales, 65, was visited on Saturday by his two horses, Sugar and Ringo, at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. The hospital staff helped in coordinating the reunion and farewell between Gonzales and the two faithful equine companions he had missed a lot during his hospitalization.

Gonzales, who was also one of the hospital's first patients when it opened in 1974, had wished to see his horses one last time. The hospital gladly obliged and helped arranged for Sugar and Ringo's 150-mile trip to the hospital.

Surrounded by his family outside the front doors of Audie L. Murphy Hospital, Gonzales was greeted by his horses, who both nuzzled up to their dying friend.

"Horses are his life," Rosario, Gonzales' wife, said in an interview with CNN. "We've been training and raising horses for 30, 40 years." According to Rosario, her husband is the only handicapped licensed horse trainer in Texas, and said that despite his condition, he continued to train and race horses around Texas.

Gonzales was left paralyzed when he was shot while fighting in Vietnam in May 1970.

On a recent visit to a hospital to have a back wound checked, it was found that Gonzales had also developed liver problems and that his kidneys are shutting down.

In his final moments, Gonzales' dying wish was to say goodbye to his loved ones.

Coincidentally, Gonzales' final meeting with Sugar and Ringo took place on May 21, which is the same date of his life-changing injury in the jungles of Vietnam about 46 years ago.

"When the horses came up to him, he actually opened his eyes," Rosario Gonzales said. "They came up to him and I think they were actually kissing him."