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World War II Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
U.S. Army Sgt. Jose M. Lopez
Medal of Honor Winner Jose M. Lopez Dies at 94
By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Jose M. Lopez, 94, a retired Army master sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for engaging in a series of "seemingly suicidal missions" during the Battle of the Bulge, died May 16 at a daughter's home in San Antonio. He had cancer.
Sgt. Lopez was born in Mexico, orphaned when he was 8 and worked in a series of subsistence jobs. A short but sinewy man, he boxed lightweight for many years in his youth. After a series of seafaring misadventures -- he once was stranded at sea for weeks on a cargo boat with nothing to eat but a cache of bananas -- he enlisted in the Army during World War II.
He landed at Normandy a day after the June 6, 1944, invasion, and a bullet smacked into his ammunition belt, grazing his hip.
"I was really very, very afraid,'' he told journalist Bill Moyers for a television special in 1990. "I wanted to cry, and we saw other people laying wounded and screaming and everything, and there's nothing you could do. We could see them groaning in the water, and we had to just keep walking.''
At dawn on Dec. 17, 1944, he and his men were outside Krinkelt, Belgium, shortly after the start of the German offensive through the Ardennes known as the Battle of the Bulge.
Lugging a heavy machine gun, Sgt. Lopez climbed into a shallow, snow-covered hole that left everything above his waist exposed. He heard the rumbling of a tank, which he figured was American; an Allied soldier a few hundreds yards away had failed to signal him of approaching danger.
When he saw the German Tiger tank come into sight and the horde of German foot soldiers around it, he thought of dozens of his men just a few hundred yards away. Aiming at the soldiers around the tank, he killed 10 of them. That prompted the Tiger tank to fire rather recklessly in his direction. It took three shell blasts to knock Sgt. Lopez over, and he suffered a concussion.
He nevertheless repositioned himself to prevent enemy soldiers from outflanking him, resetting his gun and killing 25 more Germans.
Allowing time for his comrades to retreat to a safer position, he then dashed through the dense and protective forest and avoided contact with a cascade of enemy small-arms fire.
Eventually, the Americans fell back to Krinkelt and held out through the night. The Germans bypassed the town.
A few months later, Gen. James A. Van Fleet presented Sgt. Lopez with the Medal of Honor. The citation recognized the "seemingly suicidal missions in which he killed at least 100 of the enemy . . . [and which] were almost solely responsible for allowing Company K to avoid being enveloped, to withdraw successfully and to give other forces coming up in support time to build a line which repelled the enemy drive."
Jose Mendoza Lopez was born July 10, 1910. He never knew his exact birth town but was raised in Veracruz. His father was gone; his mother said he had drowned. She died of tuberculosis.
With other relatives dead or unable to support him, he made his way to Texas and settled in the Rio Grande Valley town of Mission. There, a family let him sleep in their shed and fed him.
His Medal of Honor citation lists Mission as his birthplace.
He spent time hooking rides on freight trains, and at 17 found himself in Atlanta. Standing 5 feet 5 inches and weighing 130 pounds, he nevertheless fought and pummeled a much bigger man.
A boxing manager who witnessed the beating trained the newly named "Kid Mendoza" and saw him through 52 victories and three losses.
Sgt. Lopez once said the greatest moment of his boxing career was meeting Babe Ruth, who attended one bout in Atlanta and shook hands with the contenders before the first bell.
In 1936, he joined the U.S. Merchant Marine and held other maritime jobs.
After his World War II service, he fought in Korea until a ranking officer heard that a Medal of Honor recipient was in battle. He was ordered to the rear and spent months picking up bodies and registering them for burial.
He later was a recruiter, mowed lawns and plowed snow. He was placed in charge of a motor pool and oversaw large crews of maintenance personnel. He retired in 1973.
To maintain his physique, Sgt. Lopez jogged until age 88. He also saw a trainer three times a week, a regimen that ended three month ago as his illness worsened.
His wife of 62 years, Emilia Herrera Lopez, died in February 2004.
Survivors include five children, Candida "Marie" Pieratti of Mahopac, N.Y., Virginia Rogers of Ogden, Utah, Beatrice Pedraza of Lima, Peru, and John Lopez and Maggie Wickwire, both of San Antonio; 19 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
Jose M. Lopez, shown in January 2005, fought at Normandy and in the Battle of the Bulge
Sports Fans Salute Military Heroes By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
SAN ANTONIO, March 3, 2000 -- Defense Secretary William S. Cohen joined about 16,000 sports fans at the Alamodome to honor three Texas Medal of Honor recipients during half- time of an NBA basketball game March 2.
The game pitted the hometown Spurs against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Air Force Academy Cadet Chorale opened the show singing Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." A videotape shown on the stadium's overhead big screens brought greetings from Texas National Guard members serving in Bosnia.
At a time when most of a basketball crowd is normally trying to get to the foodstands, most of the people in this arena stayed to honor two World War II heroes and a Vietnam veteran who went beyond the call of duty.
Standing in front of a military Color Guard in center court, Cohen and San Antonio Spurs Chairman Peter Holt greeted the honorees -- U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Lucian Adams , 77, and U.S. Army Sgt. Jose M. Lopez, 89, both World War II veterans, and U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Louis R. Rocco , 60, who received his award for actions in Vietnam. The crowd gave a Texas-sized cheer for these three men.
An announcer told their stories.
"On a cold winter day in Belgium in 1945, Army Sgt. Jose Lopez, a native of Mission, Texas, saved his entire company from being surrounded by enemy troops. Under heavy tank and artillery fire, Sgt. Lopez mobilized and manned a heavy machine gun by himself, holding off hundreds of advancing soldiers and preventing their attack from flanking and overwhelming his badly outnumbered company.
"Lucian Adams, a native of Port Arthur, Texas, served as an Army Staff Sergeant in World War II. In France in 1944, Staff Sgt. Adams bravely charged a superior enemy force, dodging behind trees to escape intense fire from machine guns and grenade launchers. Staff Sgt. Adams single- handedly defeated a specialized force, destroying three machine guns, and reopened critical supply lines to his isolated battalion.
"In 1970, Army Warrant Officer Louis Rocco, a resident of San Antonio, was shot down over the jungles of Vietnam during a dangerous mission to rescue critically wounded soldiers. Warrant Officer Rocco, suffering broken bones and braving heavy enemy fire, jumped repeatedly into the burning wreckage of his helicopter, rescuing all of the survivors of the crash and saving the lives of his comrades."
In addition to the Air Force cadets, soldiers of the 323rd Army Band and the 49th Armored Division Color Guard and Honor Guard participated in the half-time ceremony.
And, in the end, the Wolves won 108-102.
CITATION:
LOPEZ, JOSE M.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, 23d Infantry, 2d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Krinkelt, Belgium, 17 December 1944. Entered service at: Brownsville, Tex. Birth: Mission, Tex. G.O. No.: 47, 18 June 1945. Citation: On his own initiative, he carried his heavy machinegun from Company K's right flank to its left, in order to protect that flank which was in danger of being overrun by advancing enemy infantry supported by tanks. Occupying a shallow hole offering no protection above his waist, he cut down a group of 10 Germans. Ignoring enemy fire from an advancing tank, he held his position and cut down 25 more enemy infantry attempting to turn his flank. Glancing to his right, he saw a large number of infantry swarming in from the front. Although dazed and shaken from enemy artillery fire which had crashed into the ground only a few yards away, he realized that his position soon would be outflanked. Again, alone, he carried his machinegun to a position to the right rear of the sector; enemy tanks and infantry were forcing a withdrawal. Blown over backward by the concussion of enemy fire, he immediately reset his gun and continued his fire. Single-handed he held off the German horde until he was satisfied his company had effected its retirement. Again he loaded his gun on his back and in a hail of small arms fire he ran to a point where a few of his comrades were attempting to set up another defense against the onrushing enemy. He fired from this position until his ammunition was exhausted. Still carrying his gun, he fell back with his small group to Krinkelt. Sgt. Lopez's gallantry and intrepidity, on seemingly suicidal missions in which he killed at least 100 of the enemy, were almost solely responsible for allowing Company K to avoid being enveloped, to withdraw successfully and to give other forces coming up in support time to build a line which repelled the enemy drive.
Defense Secretary William S. Cohen (left) talks with Medal of Honor recipients Jose Lopez (seated left) and Lucian Adams (seated right) and members of the Air Force Academy Cadet Chorale following an NBA basketball game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Photo by Linda D. Kozaryn
Defense Secretary William S. Cohen (left) shakes the hand of Medal of Honor recipient Army Warrant Officer Louis Rocco during a half-time tribute at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Medal of Honor Recipients Jose Lopez and Lucian Adams are standing behind them. Photo by Linda D. Kozaryn
During an NBA basketball game at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, Texas in 2000,
former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, with USAFA Cadet Chorale standing behind him,
applauded three Medal of Honor Recipients, Jose Lopez, Lucian Adams, and Louis Rocco.
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