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Class IX Biographies Inducted in 2017
Second
Lieutenant Frank A. Gonzales
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- 1944
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2nd Lt.
Gonzales, a native of Augusta, Kan., served in I Company, 137th Infantry Regiment
and landed in Normandy in July, 1944. After
his platoon sergeant was killed during the Battle of St. Lo, then Technical
Sgt. Gonzales took command of the platoon which was under heavy mortar and
machine gun fire in the hedgerows. He
commanded a tank destroyer whose crew was reduced by enemy fire and directed
an attack which destroyed enemy machine gun positions. Next, he emptied machine guns into other
enemy emplacements and finally, using hand grenades, he destroyed an enemy
mortar section. He repeated his
actions later the same day. He
received a battlefield promotion to second lieutenant but was killed in
action August 2, 1944. He was
posthumously awarded the Silver Star for heroism.
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Private
First Class Ralph S. Lilly
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-1992
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Pfc. Lilly,
from Houston, Mo., entered combat with A company, 137th Infantry Regiment in
September 1944. During fierce fighting
in the Battle of Fonteny, nearly every man in Pfc. Lilly’s unit was killed or
wounded. The platoon medic was wounded. Two other men going for medical aid were
hit. Pfc. Lilly then volunteered to get
help and after a death-defying dash under sniper fire, he reached the aid
station and medical reinforcements. The
next day, he found only five men left from the previous morning when his
platoon had 50 men. In the battle for
Hilsprich, Pfc. Lilly was hit by shrapnel and severely wounded. Later at an aid station, he refused surgery
until his critically wounded sergeant was treated first. For his heroism in combat, Pfc. Lilly was
awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart. He died in 1992.
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Private
First Class Augustine G. Martinez
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Pfc.
Martinez was 18 when he was assigned to I Company, 137th Infantry as a
replacement rifleman. On September 16,
1944 near Nancy, Pfc. Martinez and his platoon encountered heavy fire but
drove the enemy back to a woods. A German
tank emerged and fired, blowing away Martinez’s left foot. What followed epitomizes the incredible life-long
suffering of wounded soldiers who became POWs. Pfc. Martinez lay on the battlefield two
days in indescribable pain until captured and hauled to a German POW camp,
where his leg was partially amputated.
He was released in a prisoner exchange, but he was not the same
Augustine Martinez. For 73 years, he has
suffered physically and mentally from his wounds and imprisonment, yet today he
has a positive spirit and great pride in his service. He is a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal
and Purple Heart. He is 91 and lives
in California
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