HomeMy WebLinkAboutBrazos Valley Heroes - Munoz
'.
One In a series of tributes to mer:nbers of "The Greatest
Generation" who served our country during \"'orld War II
Ascencion Munoz was 18 years old in 1943
when he got his letter inviting him to join up with
Uncle Sam and the U, S. Army.
Like most things at that age, everything that
was happening was new and exciting but the one
thing he regretted was that he hadn't been able to
finish his high school education..
He went into training in the infantry and
became a Scout with the 43rd Infantry Division.
"My first action was on the island of New Guinea
rounding up Japanese stragglers. It was surp'ris-
ing where you had to look to find them. There
were two soldiers who had dug themselves under
and into the center of a tree."
"We wouldn't have found them except I
heard them talking to each other. As a Scout I was
out ahead of the rest of the platoon so they didn't
hear me or know we were around,"
From New Guinea, they invaded the
Philippines in an attempt to reclaim Luzon and
Manila.
"When our landing barge hit the beach, the
ship we had just left was hit and spnk. We were
left wHh only the equipment and supplies we car-
ried with us. I don't know what was the worst to
deal with, the Japanese, who fought hard, or the
mosquitoes, which were terrible."
Munoz and his unit were the ones who liber-
ated Clark Field and the Santo Thomas prison
which held the remnants of the survivors of
Bataan.
"The survivors were in bad shape. Not much
more than walking skeletons and many weren't
able to walk at all. But they were sure glad to see .
us and us them~"
Munoz returned to Bryan, to carryon with his
life and raise his family, He is now retired but still
helps his daughter daily in her restaurant, Mi
Cocina.
Last year, he got to finish something that was
left undone from 1943. Governor Perry and the
state legislature awarded high school diploma's to .
all those whose service in WWII interrupted their
education. This occurred about the same time his
granddaughter Misty Munoz received her degree
and commission from the U. S. Military Academy
at West Point. The family legacy of service lives
on.
Ascencion Munoz's name can be found on
panel B-1 of the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial.
For more information, to make a contribution or to
.nominate a veteran, contact the Brazos Valley
Veterans Memorial' at www.veterans-
memorial.org,
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