SAN ANTONIO -- In the jungles of Vietnam's Northern Province 41 years ago, a young Marine from San Antonio was leading his company on a reconnaissance mission. Coming under heavy fire, Cpl. Roy Cisneros lived up to his training; he maneuvered his squad across the terrain, leading them to destroy three enemy bunkers, and advancing alone upon the enemy to open fire and save his fellow Marines. Cisneros died that day in the jungle, shot down on Sept. 11, 1968.

Forty-one years later, after Cisneros was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, after his name was etched on the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial, another honor was bestowed -- one closer to home. The elementary school he attended was rebuilt and renamed in his honor and dedicated Monday in the memory of a man who refused to give up.

"We're changing it to a very honorable name -- Roy Cisneros," said Victor Mena of the Edgewood District Veterans, a group that worked for more than two years to encourage the school board to rename the school in honor of Cisneros. "A hero, who performed not just heroic actions, but according to his citation, above and beyond extraordinary valor."

Mena was one of the speakers at Monday's dedication ceremony who told students of the elementary school, "You could not be prouder to go to a school named for a hero like that ... anytime you hear the name Roy Cisneros I want you to proudly say, 'That's my school.'"

Cisneros attended the former Cenizo Park Elementary School and graduated from Edgewood High School before joining the ranks of the U.S. Marine Corps.

After his death, his family, led by his brother Jim Cisneros, worked to have him honored by the district in which he was educated. After more than two years of lobbying and through the hard work of Mena and the veteran's group, the Edgewood Independent School District Board of Trustees voted in September to rename Cenizo Park Elementary after Cisneros.

Speaking at Monday's dedication ceremony, State Rep. Jose Menendez read a proclamation passed by the Texas Legislature during the 81st Legislative Session honoring Cisneros for his valor.

Menendez then spoke directly to the students of Cisneros Elementary School.

"There was a day when Cpl. Roy Cisneros was your age and he was sitting in a seat just like you are today," Menendez said. "What does that mean? That each and every single one of you have the ability to be as courageous and have as much value as Cpl. Roy Cisneros."

Retired Gen. Ricardo Sanchez was the keynote speaker at Monday's dedication. Student Alfonso Medina also read his winning essay about Cisneros and what it means to be an everyday hero.

After the ceremony, a shadowbox containing all of Cisneros' medals was unveiled, as well as a portrait of Cisneros and a frame containing his story of valor. They will all be placed at the front of the school which now bears his name.