Winston Churchill once said of World War Two that it was not a war of princes or chieftains, but of peoples and causes; a war fought by unknown heroes. Here we acknowledge the unknown heroes that Churchill was referring to as well; our fallen heroes as well as those that fought for our freedoms and returned with their memories. We remember and honour in our hearts the Allied heroes, war veterans and all the affected people, who valued freedom in their life above all else.

Eusebio Galvan

S/Sgt, US Army
E Company, 16th Infantry
Silver Star with Oak Leaves Cluster, Purple Heart

Eusebio served in all the First Division campaigns of World War II: Algeria-French Morocco, Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe. While a sergeant in the vicinity of Annet-sur-Marne, Ile-de-France, France, 28 August 1944, intense enemy fire compelled members of a rocket-gun team to abandon their positions in defense of a road block. Sergeant Galvan manned the weapon and engaged an approaching hostile truck loaded with troops. Remaining at an exposed vantage point and completely ignoring personal safety, he destroyed the enemy vehicle with a single rocket shell and repulsed a series of attacks upon the road barrier.

Sabino Goitia

Sabino was born in 1910 in New York City of Basque parents from Bilbao, Spain. Unmarried at the age of 32, he was drafted in May, 1943. He completed medic training at Brooke Hospital, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, and was assigned to the Medical Detachment of the 754th Tank Battalion as a replacement. He left for the South Pacific in December, 1943 in time for two campaigns -- the second battle for Bougainville (Solomon Islands) and the invasion of the Philippines. If my research is correct, the 754th was part of XIV Corps, which consisted of a Marine Defense Battalion, the Americal Division, the 37th Infantry Division (Ohio Buckeye's), the 754th Tank Battalion, Army Air Force, Naval, and numerous other small elements.

Medics were unarmed noncombatants in a war zone. They constructed their own battalion aid station or dispensary and gave medical aid to the wounded and dying soldiers and, on occasion, to prisoners as well. They stood guard over the wounded when threatened with an attack, went to the front with line companies or remained at the aid station, as needed. Uncle Sal related to me that the first they did upon arriving was remove all of the insignia indicating they were medics. The Japanese didn't abide by the rules of war covering noncombatants. "Those red crosses were just like targets for snipers", he said.

History tells us that the second battle for Bougainville was savage and desperate. Japanese losses were inordinately high. Uncle Sal said he couldn't understand it -- "the Japs were crazy" -- they just kept coming over the bodies of their own wounded and dead. "Our boys were fighting with bayonets and many of the wounds were from bayonets -- they fought so close." Years later when we talked about the war, he told me that Bougainville was the worst thing he had ever experienced in his life.

The landing at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, the Philippines, was not as bad as they had expected in terms of casualties. However, when they reached Manila it was another story. Unlike major cities in Europe, such as Paris and Rome, which were spared, the Japanese would not declare Manila an "Open City". [Manila suffered more casualties than any other Allied capital, except Nanking, during the war.] He said, "The Japs holed up in the old walled part of the city [Intramuros] and our men had to slug it out with them hand to hand." He was in Manila when the war ended.

You can read his journal by visiting http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/pers/sal/Goitia-Jnl.html

~ Submitted by Ellie Kennedy (niece)