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Anastacio was born in Leon Valley, Texas. He was raised in the Valley of deep South Texas. The family moved with the migrate farm work and the father went to work on a ranch near Presidio. Anastacio attended Presidio schools, dropped out at age 16 and joined the Army when he turned 17 in the months before the Korean War.
He completed basic training and infantry training as well as parachute training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He joined the 101st Airborne and saw action in Korea, where he excelled as a soldier. After the war and a tour in Germany and married a German national. Stateside, he attended Ranger training and was among the first soldiers selected for the famous Green Berets in 1960. His primary specialty was indirect fire (mortars).
He had completed two previous tours as a part of the 5th Special Forces acting as advisors and teachers to the Montayards in the Central Highlands. He thought his place was in Vietnam as long as there was a need.
Loss Coordinates: 143302N 1074119E (YB897102)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
SFC Anastacio Montez commanded a company of civilian irregulars in a strike force (MSFC) and was assigned to Detachment B-20, 5th Special Forces Group. The 2nd Mobile Strike Force Command, assigned to Detachment B-20 at Pleiku had during 1968 contained 3 battalions and also satellited separate battalions under Detachment B-22 at Qui Nhon, B-23 at Ban Me Thuot, and B-24 at Kontum. On April 1, 1969, the mobile strike force companies in II CTZ (Montez' area of operations) were reconsolidated at Pleiku and trimmed down to a total of six companies.
On May 24, 1969, Montez's company encountered a numerically superior group in a fire fight in Kontum Province, South Vietnam. The American members of the team tried to defend a small hill. During this time, Montez was badly wounded and, according to survivors, later died.
As the enemy pressed the attack, surviving members of the team had to abandon the position, leaving Montez behind. Because of heavy enemy concentration in the area, it was never possible to reenter the area of loss to recover Montez.
SFC Montez was posthumously award the Silver Star. His MIA status was changed to Killed in Action/Body Not Returned on 12 July 1969 when his status was determined to be correct based upon witness testimony.
Third Korean Winter, 1 December 1952 - 30 April 1953. Meanwhile the armistice talks had stalled. Discord over several issues, but principally the exchange of prisoners of war, had prevented any agreement in the latter part of 1951. This disagreement was heightened in January 1952. The U.N. delegates proposed to give captives a choice of repatriation, so that those who did not wish to return to Communist control could be repatriated elsewhere. The enemy delegates protested vigorously, insisting that all captives held by the Eighth Army be returned to their side. When the enemy failed to respond to U.N. efforts to settle the question, the U.N. delegation on 7 October called an indefinite recess in the armistice negotiations. Both military operations and armistice talks remained stalemated and, as the year 1952 ended, peace prospects seemed as remote as at its beginning.
