"He was pinned down with his company. As enemy fire swept the area,
making any movement extremely hazardous, a 500-pound bomb smashed into
the company's perimeter, burying 5 men with its explosion. Pfc.
Gonzales, without hesitation, seized an entrenching tool and under a
hail of fire crawled 15 yards to his entombed comrades, where his
commanding officer, who had also rushed forward, was beginning to dig
the men out. Nearing his goal, he saw the officer struck and instantly
killed by machinegun fire. Undismayed, he set to work swiftly and surely
with his hands and the entrenching tool while enemy sniper and
machinegun bullets struck all about him. He succeeded in digging one of
the men out of the pile of rock and sand. To dig faster he stood up
regardless of the greater danger from so exposing himself. He
extricated a second man, and then another. As he completed the
liberation of the third, he was hit and mortally wounded, but the
comrades for whom he so gallantly gave his life were safely evacuated.
Pfc. Gonzales' valiant and intrepid conduct exemplifies the highest
tradition of the military service."
From Pfc. Gonzales' Medal of Honor citation, awarded on December 8, 1945.
Thank you for your sacrifice and may you be at peace,
Brian & Melonie
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