HONORING A GREAT BROWNSVILLE SOLDIER, JOSE LOPEZ

(Brownsville's own  Jose M. Lopez's likeness is depicted in the statue at Veterans Memorial Park on Central Boulevard.  We have only met two Medal of Honor winners, Lopez and Roy P. Benavidez, of Cuero, Texas. Both were quiet unassuming men who spoke very little of their exploits and hated war. Below is the story of a real life hero. )

By Juan Montoya

The featured guest of honor at the Brownsville War Bond Drive and party at the Missouri Pacific Park in 1945.was none other than La 421's Sgt. Jose M. Lopez, the Congressional Medal of Honor winner who in one day killed more German soldiers than Texan Audie Murphy killed during the entire war to win his.
Some commenters on this blog have told us they are tired of hearing about Mexican-American war heroes (like Luz Saenz, who wrote his WWI wartime diary).
Sorry, but we're not. In this day and age when some presidential candidates consider Hispanics the new foreigners, recounting their courageous deeds reminds us that their sacrifices have given us, their descendants, every right to demand that we be treated as first-class citizens like everyone else.

The bronze sculpture of Lopez that now adorns the Veterans Memorial Park on Central Boulvard was once shunted to the rear of the Veterans Memorial Bridge office at Los Tomates (known as Ignacio Zaragoza in Matamoros).
Only through the timely intervention of the local VFW post and the county commission was the work moved where it would be more accessible (and visible) to the public.
When he saw it, Lopez said everything was accurate except for the depiction of the weapon the soldier was carrying. The war bond ad shows him behind the actual weapon he used to counter the German attack and allow his unit to withdraw and save themselves from destruction.
An anecdote to the awarding of the medal in the field was that when Third Corp Commander Maj. General James Van Fleet awarded him the recognition, they had to camouflage a parapet for Lopez to stand so that Van Fleet wouldn't have to stoop to pin it on his chest.
Chiquito pero picoso!
His life story and reason for the medal is taken from Wikipedia and states that: "Lopez was raised by his mother Candida Lopez in Santiago Ihuitlán, Oaxaca, Mexico. As a young boy he helped his mother sell clothes that she made as a seamstress in the city. However, his time with his mother was cut short due to tuberculosis which took her life and left Lopez an orphan when he was only eight years old.

Lopez then relocated to Brownsville, Texas to live with his uncle's family.
While living in with his uncle's family Lopez began working various jobs to bring in income and never returned to school. As a young man, Lopez caught the attention of a boxing promoter and for seven years he traveled the country fighting a total of 55 fights in the lightweight division with the nickname of 'Kid Mendoza'.
In 1934, during a boxing match in Melbourne, Australia, he met a group of Merchant Marines and signed a contract with them. He was accepted in the union in 1936 and spent the next five years traveling the world.

He was en route to California from Hawaii on December 7, 1941, when he learned about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. When he arrived in Los Angeles, the authorities believed he was Japanese and he was forced to prove otherwise.

Lopez returned to Brownsville and, in 1942, married Emilia Herrera. That same year, he received his draft card and relocated to San Antonio where he enlisted in the U.S. Army. Lopez was first sent to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and then to Camp Roberts, California, where he received his basic training. He was assigned to the U.S. Army, 23rd Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division, and was involved in heavy fighting in the forest near Krinkelt, Belgium, on Dec. 17, 1944.

The Medal of Honor Citation reads: "On his own initiative, he carried his heavy machine gun 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 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.
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."

Upon the outbreak of the Korean War, Lopez was accidentally ordered to serve for his country and without hesitation was prepared to do so, until President Harry S. Truman heard of and corrected the matter so that Lopez could remain in the United States.

The city of Mission, Texas, who also claims to be Lopez' hometown, recognized Lopez by naming a street and a city park – Jose M. Lopez Park – in his honor, as did the  North East Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, which named a middle school in his honor, Jose M. Lopez Middle School.
We salute his memory.