Medal of Honor Monday: Army PFC Jose Valdez
Jan. 25, 2021 | BY Katie Lange , DOD News
Army Pfc. Jose F. Valdez knew the odds were stacked against him when he volunteered to hold off 200 Germans so his fellow soldiers could escape an onslaught during World War II. The role cost him his life, but his bravery, tenacity and devotion to duty earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor.
Valdez was born on Jan. 3, 1925, in the small, northern New Mexico town of Gobernador. He was Mexican-American and came from a large family. According to the National Infantry Museum, his family moved in the early 1940s to Pleasant Grove, Utah, to help build the new Geneva Steel mill, which produced products to support World War II's shipbuilding industry.
An old photograph shows a young man dressed in a military uniform smiling at the camera.
In June 1944, Valdez decided he wanted to do more for the effort, so he joined the Army. He was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division, which had already fought its way through North Africa and was working its way through Italy. By January 1945, Valdez had joined the division as it pushed its way into France and prepared to take back the Alsace region from German control.
https://www.defense.gov/Explore/Features/Story/Article/2477311/medal-of-honor-monday-army-pfc-jose-valdez/
