Unit/Command: Company A, 127th Infantry, 32d Infantry Division
Military Service Branch: U.S. Army
Medal of Honor Action Date: April 25, 1945
Medal of Honor Action Place: Hill 507, Villa Verde Trail, Luzon, Philippine Islands
Citation
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 five 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 machine-gun fire. Undismayed, he set to work swiftly and surely with his hands and entrenching tool while enemy sniper and machine-gun 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 traditions of the military service.
Additional Details
Accredited to: Pacoima, Los Angeles County, California
Awarded Posthumously: Yes
Born: June 9, 1923, Pacoima, Los Angeles County, CA, United States
Died: April 25, 1945, Luzon, Philippine Islands
Buried: Calvary Cemetery (MH) (H-151-18), Los Angeles, CA, United States