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We are proud of WWII veteran

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  • Originally published July 31, 2008 at 5:25 p.m., updated July 31, 2008 at 5:25 p.m.

Author and journalist Tom Brokaw has called them “The Greatest Generation.”

It was these young soldiers, their eyes full of wishes and dreams for the future, who were suddenly jerked into military service when an evil Axis of nations formed across both oceans from America, and threatened the freedom of peoples not only here but on every continent of the globe.

In the small town of Cuero, a handsome, smiling young man named Ralph Gonzales was nearing graduation from high school when he was suddenly inducted into the Army in 1941 and, three years later, thrust into the greatest military endeavor in history — the D-Day invasion of France in June 1944.

It took a lot of blood and guts to charge into Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, and Mr. Gonzales supplied his share of both. Ahead of him on Utah Beach were miles and miles of well-trained Nazi soldiers, equipped with some of the deadliest weapons of war on Earth.

Allied troops, including Mr. Gonzales’ 79th Infantry Division, landed amid withering fire from the Germans and began their trek inland. But in the town of St. Lo, a major objective of the Allies, they were ambushed by German troops. As Mr. Gonzales dived for the ground, he landed on a mine and was seriously injured.

It says a lot for Mr. Gonzales that more than his own injury, he speaks of a close comrade who had died earlier in the streets of Cherbourg.

By the time he recovered, his service was over, and he was discharged from the Army and sent home, where he went to an electronics trade school and had a lengthy career at Kelly Air Force Base.

And now, 64 years after his courageous service to his country, he has received that long overdue high school diploma, thanks to a program administered by the Texas Education Agency.

Once again, ask him about the war and he’ll talk about his comrades, living and deceased.

“We must never forget the ones that didn’t make it back,” he told Advocate reporter Sonny Long.

Every American can be proud of every military person who has served in every conflict in which America has taken part.

And now, next to his purple heart, Mr. Gonzales can hang a high school diploma, the one he put on hold so many years ago when he answered the call of his country.


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