Alfredo Cantu "Freddy" Gonzalez (May 23, 1946 – February 4, 1968) was a United States Marine Corps Sergeant who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for service in the Battle of Huế during the Vietnam War.

[3] He became an instructor at Camp Lejeune, teaching Marines the techniques of guerrilla warfare, and expected to serve out the rest of the war in that capacity.

His plans changed when he learned that an entire platoon, including men who had served under him during his tour, had been killed in an ambush in Vietnam.

[2] Ordered to the West Coast in May 1967, he joined the 3rd Replacement Company, Staging Battalion, at Camp Pendleton in California, for transfer to East Asia.

The next day, when a large North Vietnamese force inflicted heavy casualties on his company, he used anti-tank weapons to fire on the fortified positions.

Vice President Spiro T. Agnew formally presented the medal to Gonzalez's mother on October 31, 1969, during a ceremony at the White House.

Due to the increased volume and accuracy of enemy fire from a fortified machine gun bunker on the side of the road, the company was temporarily halted.

Gonzalez exposed himself to the enemy fire and moved his platoon along the east side of a bordering rice paddy to a dike directly across from the bunker.

Though fully aware of the danger involved, he moved to the fire-swept road and destroyed the hostile position with hand grenades.

[1] The United States Navy guided missile destroyer USS Gonzalez (DDG-66), commissioned in 1996, is named in his honor.

Freddy Gonzalez: Vietnam War Hero," scheduled for release by McFarland Publishing Company, in fall 2013.

At The Basic School in Stafford County, Virginia, where Marine Corps officers are trained, there is an Alfredo Gonzalez Hall.