FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: Alejandro R Ruiz ~ November 30, 2009

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World | StarCMC

[Kathy in Alaska]

Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.

Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!

~ Hall of Heroes ~

Alejandro R. Ruiz

Story from this website.

           

Private First Class Alejandro R. Ruiz (June 26, 1923 - November 20, 2009) was a former United States Army soldier who was awarded the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military decoration, for his actions in the Battle of Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands during World War II.

Ruiz was born and raised in Loving, New Mexico and enlisted in the United States Army in the town of Carlsbad, New Mexico upon the outbreak of World War II. He was assigned to the U.S. 27th Infantry Division after completing basic training.

During World War II, the conquest of the Japanese island of Okinawa was considered vital for the Allied forces as a step towards an invasion of the Japanese mainland. The invasion (codenamed Operation Iceberg) was the largest amphibious operation of the Pacific war, and involved units of the U.S. Tenth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. These consisted of III Amphibious Corps (1st and 6th Marine Divisions, with 2nd Marine Division as an afloat reserve), and XXIV Corps (7th, 77th, 96th and 27th Infantry Divisions.)

On April 28, 1945, PFC Ruiz's unit was pinned down by machine gun fire coming from a camouflaged Japanese pillbox and was unable to advance to its assigned objective. Ruiz, on his own initiative, charged the pillbox under a hail of machine gun fire. On his second attempt, he was able to neutralize the pillbox by killing all of its occupants. For his actions he was awarded the Medal of Honor.  On June 26, 1946, President Harry S. Truman presented Ruiz with the Medal of Honor in a ceremony held at the White House.

Ruiz resided in Visalia, California and actively participated in activities honoring Medal of Honor recipients. On November 20, 2009, Ruiz passed away. The town of Visalia has honored Ruiz by naming the "Alejandro R. Ruiz Sr. Park" after him, located at North Burke Street and Buena Vista Street.

ALEJANDRO R. RUIZ
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, 165th Infantry, 27th Infantry Division
Place and date: Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, April 28, 1945
Entered service at: Carlsbad, New Mexico
Born: June 26, 1923, Loving, New Mexico
G.O. No. 60, June 26, 1946.
Citation:

    When his unit was stopped by a skillfully camouflaged enemy pillbox, he displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. His squad, suddenly brought under a hail of machinegun fire and a vicious grenade attack, was pinned down. Jumping to his feet, Pfc. Ruiz seized an automatic rifle and lunged through the flying grenades and rifle and automatic fire for the top of the emplacement. When an enemy soldier charged him, his rifle jammed. Undaunted, Pfc. Ruiz whirled on his assailant and clubbed him down. Then he ran back through bullets and grenades, seized more ammunition and another automatic rifle, and again made for the pillbox. Enemy fire now was concentrated on him, but he charged on, miraculously reaching the position, and in plain view he climbed to the top. Leaping from one opening to another, he sent burst after burst into the pillbox, killing 12 of the enemy and completely destroying the position. Pfc. Ruiz's heroic conduct, in the face of overwhelming odds, saved the lives of many comrades and eliminated an obstacle that long would have checked his unit's advance.

Thank you sir, for your service and sacrifice for our country!

Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families.  This is a politics-free zone!  Thanks for helping us in our mission!

[beachn4fun]

Excuse me! Whadda ya mean there’s nobody here in the mornings?

I’m here

except on the weekends, that is.

LOL

Good morning,TMSuchman

[beachn4fun]

Good morning, Ma (((HUGS))). Hope your vacation is going well. You know how I feel about Mondays.

especially after a long weekend. Argggggg.....

[TMSuchman]

Sorry about that. I usally get on around 0600 [local] & everything is sssssoooooo quiet around here, that I forget that there is a world that gets up and does “stuff” too.

[beachn4fun]

Good morning, Everyone. Good morning to our

AWESOME

Military, our Allies, and their families.

THANK YOU for all you do.

Thank you, Star, for preparing the Canteen for today’s activities.

Major KUDOS to Alejandro R. Ruiz & family for their service and sacrifices!

DC Metroland weather report

~ Today... Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain for the afternoon. High 54F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch.

~ Tonight... A few showers early, then clear overnight. Low 36F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

Brrrrr.....looks like our temps will be staying on the cool side through the week.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday.

Now, it's the rush to get ready for Christmas. I guess I'm getting old and crotchety cause I don't look forward to Christmas like I used to. I think one of the biggest things is trying to figure out what to get people!

Got to make my rounds. Lots of work to catch up on. But, you stay right where you are.

Now remember, the Canteen is ALWAYS

Come on in and sit for a while.
There's always plenty of coffee, pancakes, conversation, silliness,
and plain old BS

REMEMBER THEM

DEFENDERS OF FREEDOM

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT

Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before.

[E.G.C.]

((HUGS))Good morning, Beach.
I'm off to the dentists for my teeth cleaning. It's chilly this morning.

How's it going for you this morning?

[Arrowhead1952]

Good morning to everyone at the Canteen.
47º, rainy and quite windy here today.

[GodBlessUSA]

Good Morning Arrowhead :)
I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving!
HUGS

[GodBlessUSA]

Good Morning E.G.C. :)
How are you today? How was your weekend and Thanksgiving?
HUGS

[GodBlessUSA]

Good Morning Beachn! :)
Now don't be
;) LOL

I hope you had a good long weekend! Enjoyed a lot of mashed potatoes with Turkey!
HUGS

[beachn4fun]

LOL

I’m at work by 0600 but opening up the office and getting coffee ready before I can get to FR.

Glad to have another early bird around.

[beachn4fun]

Good morning and (((HUGS))) EG. All is well. I will be going to the dentist tomorrow afternoon. A permanent crown. It’s chilly here and they’re calling for drop in temps and rain this afternoon.

Have a good day even though you have to visit the dentist.

[beachn4fun]

Good morning, GB (((HUGS)))
I did have a nice long weekend. Had good food I didn't have to cook, too!
Glad to hear you enjoyed all that mashed potatoes with Turkey! Now, walk it off! LOL

[Arrowhead1952]

Good morning G B USA. HUGS to yo too. We had two Thanksgivings.

One here with the in-laws on Wednesday and one on Thanksgiving with my sis and dad.

[beachn4fun]

Good morning, dear ((HUGS))

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving? Did the pup enjoy it? LOL

[Arrowhead1952]

See my reply just above yours, and yes the pup had a lot of fun. She will not get a walk soon, since it is raining here.

[GodBlessUSA]

LOL!!
I cannot believe it's ok to use the Christmas graphics again. Where did this year go? :)

It's great when you don't have to cook for a change. A nice break for you. I have a lot of walking off of potatoes and stuffing to do! LOL

[GodBlessUSA]

This sounds terrific Arrowhead! You spent a lot of family time and had a lot of good food. ;) The best part of the holidays. I was able to spend time with my sister who lives a distance. It was a wonderful time!

[ConorMacNessa]

Good morning, Beachy! *HUGS* Still basking in the afterglow of Thanksgiving!

[PROCON]

Whoa, whoa..what happened to the weekend?

Actually, my weekend seemed long and very pleasent!

How you doing Beachie, only 25 more shopping days til Christmas (LOL)!

Clear but foggie here on the left coast, going to hunker down and get 'er done.

Have a great last of November day!

[beachn4fun]

Oh, got it!

[beachn4fun]

I must gloat say I didn't overeat on Thurs. LOL

[beachn4fun]

Good morning, CMN ((HUGs))

How was your Thanksgiving?

[beachn4fun]

Good morning, Pro ((HUGS))

Weekends go by fast, you know that, Pro.

You know, even though I only took off 2 extra days, it did seem long. I did a lot of R&R!

Hope you last day of November is happy.

[GodBlessUSA]

Way to go!! I admire your self discipline. Me, I ate Thursday, Friday, a little too much Sat. ;) Today, I have to go to lunch. I'll try to be good. LOL

Have a great day! See you later

[ConorMacNessa]

It was great, thanks! How was yours?

[beachn4fun]

Mine was okay, thanks. Except I didn’t get to celebrate it with my boys.

[beachn4fun]

Fawnn's mom

[E.G.C.]

((HUGS))Good morning, GodBlessUSA. Just got back form the dentist. Everything was OK. Next visit in six months.

[beachn4fun]

Hunter Andrew

[unique]

[beachn4fun]

woohoo it's unique!

Howdy, U. ((HUGS)) How was your holiday?

[unique]

Holiday's are sort of a bummer for me.....

Did you kill a turkey?

Here's one you missed....

[beachn4fun]

LOL

Did you kill a turkey?

Nope, some one else killed it, cooked it and I ate some of it.

[blackie]

Thanks Kathy!

{{HUGS}}

[unique]

Technically you didn't kill it, but in essence you did.

OMG.....run turkey, run....

[Fawnn]

Thanks from mom.

[AZamericonnie]

A sister? Oh that’s neat!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Hugs from all of us to all of you.
Hope you are all settled and things are working well.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Click the pic for ….

Road Trip: Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii

NOTE: CANTEEN MUSIC
Posted daily and on the Music Thread
for the enjoyment of our troops and visitors.

[Kathy in Alaska]

w h !!

Thanks, unique, for the jumpers!

TMS.....#100!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, beachy, for the birthday wishes.

[beachn4fun]

ROTFLOL