Manuel Dominguez displays the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals which he was awarded recently for his service in World War II. His son Tony (right) stands alerted the city of Selma about the medals.
Posted on 06/28/2003 9:41:06 PM PDT by chance33_98
Manuel Dominguez displays the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals which he was awarded recently for his service in World War II. His son Tony (right) stands alerted the city of Selma about the medals.
Honored at last
By James C. Loughrie Enterprise Staff
Selma resident Manuel Dominguez recently received the Purple Heart, a medal given for those wounded in combat, and the Bronze Star, an award given for heroic achievement. However, it has been more than 55 years since he served in the U.S. Army.
Dominguez was born in 1924 in El Paso, Texas, and moved to Selma with his family when he was a child. When he was 19, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and began training to serve in the Pacific against Japan in World War II. At 21 years old, Dominguez was in Okinawa with his unit, which he said sustained heavy casualties, when he saw a grenade flying his way. In a split-second, he said there was nothing he could do. "All we could do was just holler 'grenade,'" he said.
"After it blew up, I gave it about four steps, then I felt something real hot on my knee," Dominguez recalled about his injury.
He was then sent to Hawaii on a Red Cross ship. Dominguez said that while in the hospital, a nurse came to the wounded soldiers and said there would be a ceremony the next day giving them Purple Hearts.
But, he said, an hour later, the same nurse came back and said a plane was leaving for the States. When she asked if anyone would like to go, he said, "I raised my hand way up high."
Dominguez came back to the States and recuperated in a naval hospital for a year.
Because he took the early ship home, Dominguez did not receive his medals in Hawaii. In fact, he did not receive them at all. Whether it was a paperwork mix-up or an oversight by the U.S. government, Dominguez said he does not know. The only answer that could explain the loss of his records was a fire at the Veterans Affairs records in July 1973. According to the Veterans Administration, 80 percent of the records of Army personnel discharged between Nov. 1, 1912, and Jan. 1, 1960, were destroyed.
A letter from the Veterans Administration indicated to Dominguez that his records were likely destroyed. According to that same letter, Dominguez is eligible for: a Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge 1st Award and the Honorable Service Lapel Button for World War II.
About the time he was being released from the naval hospital in Menlo Park, where he stayed for almost a year, Dominguez asked a Captain about getting his Purple Heart for his combat injury. Dominguez said the officer told him, "You can go to San Jose and buy one."
Dominguez said he replied, "I don't want to buy one, I've already earned one."
Without getting his medal, he came back to Selma and helped his father run the family's trucking business. When his father became ill and could not continue, Dominguez ran the business until he retired 13 years ago.
With a family and business to run, Dominguez said he lost sight of his awards. "I didn't pay too much attention to these medals," he said.
But as he grew older and began to spend time with his grandchildren, Dominguez said he wanted them to know about the history their grandfather lived through.
This May, after waiting more than 50 years, Dominguez decided that he would pursue his medals. One of his sons took him to several Veterans Affairs offices in Fresno, and with the help of Congressman Devin Nunez's office, Dominguez received the medals at the beginning of June.
On Father's Day, Dominguez was dining out with his family, when his son, Tony, saw Selma Mayor Dennis Lujan and told him about the medals his father recently received.
Tony Dominguez said Lujan told him to bring his father to the following night's Selma City Council meeting so he could be recognized by the city.
Manuel Dominguez said he did not know why they were stopping at City Hall the next evening. "I thought we were going to eat," he said.
That night, Manuel Dominguez found out that June 16, would be Manuel Dominguez Day in Selma.
Thank you, Manuel Dominguez.
Thanks, Manuel Dominguez, for your service to our country.
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