Sgt Jose M. Lopez, K Co., 23rd Inf Regt, 2nd Inf Div

I keep saying and saying and saying again that time is going away and if you - American Citizens - doesn’t do something right with all these old “War Souvenirs” from your dad, grandpa, brother, we will not be able to keep the memories alive on this side of the ocean. Don’t forget that we are facing the same sad situation as if the World War Two Veterans are passing away our witnesses are doing exactly the same. Look at the World War One ! No more Veteran and no more witnesses.
We can’t just keep writing always about the same story about the same battle about the same country without starting to bother our readers.

We sure try to do our best but - this is the best example - in the National Archives, try to ask to get a special photo about a particularly place and you will never get it as they simply have no clue on what you are talking about.
It sounds terrible but it’s the reality !

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Medal of Honor recipient Jose M. Lopez dies at 94.
A text by Adam Bernstein, Washington Post Staff Writer

Rank and Organisation : Sergeant, US Army, 23d Inf Regt, 2nd Infantry Division
Place and date : Near Krinkelt (Krinkelterwald), Belgium, 17 December 1944
Entered service at : Brownsville, Tex
Birth : Mission, Tex
General Oorder No 47, 18 June 1945

Citation :
On his own initiative, he carried his heavy machine gun (Browning Cal .50)(GGG) from K Co. 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 (12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend Infantry)(GGG). 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 machine gun 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. Singlehanded 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 the town of Krinkelt (Belgium).

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 K Co, 23rd Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division 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 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 Panther 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 Panther 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 K Co 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 US 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,
John Lopez and Maggie Wickwire, both of San Antonio;
19 grandchildren;
10 great-grandchildren

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