His life went unrecognized for years except for a corrido still sung in Rio Bravo and amongst the Garza family at "Las Alacranes" ranch in Rio Bravo, Mexico. Upon the marriage of a descendant of Juan Alamia and the brave lady who retrieved his body from the mesquite tree, the story in the corrido was shared. Adrienne Peña-Garza told her father, a member of the state legislature, of the story shared with her by her husband Aquiles Jaime Garza. Her father found the crumbling tomb of Juan Alamia in the old Brownsville cemetery and searched through old family records to piece together his story so that it could be told. On August 5, 2003, the Texas Legislature honored the life and service of this brave and nearly forgotten American with a resolution telling his story.