Jose Guillermo Lopez Cruz

On May 1, 2010, Joshua Ruiz de Val, Juan Carlos Cancio and Christian Rivera visited Mr.
Jose Guillermo López Cruz, a veteran of World War II. He is most commonly known as William López from Cataño, Puerto Rico. The interview was originally in Spanish, but it is transcribed into English;

Juanqui- We are now going to interview, William Lopez, my great uncle, who participated in World War II.
Jose- My real name is Jose Guillermo Lopez Cruz, but my friends call me William, including you guys, but if you search in the army records, the name will not come out.
Christian- so your name is Jose Guillermo Lopez Cruz right
Jose- That is correct. Well I come from a family of ten boys, all boys, and of those ten, eight are veterans, four in World War II, including me, four in Korea and two in Vietnam.
Christian- My father also comes from a family of ten.
Jose- Well, I come from a family of ten and I am the fifth of those ten. I was 18-19 years old when I was drafted into the U.S army, but I did not have all bad. I had just come from my first year of college and I know a bit of English. I went to extensive training in Vega Baja were you would train to use a rifle, how to fire a cannon as well as physical training. I was chosen because I knew English, an you could not say that you did not know English because they would find out and you would get in trouble, so I was chosen by my records and they took me to North Africa to the strait of Gibraltar, to protect the strait from the german ships trying to pass through to aid the soldiers with ammunition.
Christian- Did a lot of boats come?
Jose- I’m sorry
Christian- I mean, did boats ever try to pass through?
Jose- Oh yes, they tried to pass through, but they could never go through.
Jose- So we, the 65 infantry were chosen to protect that strait with 105 mm cannons, or howitzers.
All three- Wow
Jose- the 105 mm bullets, are like…. Well they are like this guy (pointing at Juanqui)
All three- Hahaha
Jose- Well the 105 mm are huge, well I was a 140 pound 19 year old, and so when they gave me the round, I fell to the ground.
Joshua- When was this?
Jose - This was 1942-1943, in North Africa; I also went to Southern France and Berlin.
Juanqui- Wow
Jose – I order to get to North Africa, we had to be 18 days at sea with over 900 men to 1,000 men inside the boat.
Joshua- Was it a big ship?
Jose- Oh yes, really big. We used to get sea sick, but wherever we were there would always be a medic there to help us, a head ache, a pill to release it.
Joshua- So did they treat you well?
Jose- Oh yes, they would treat us all really well, because if you did not feel good, then you would no serve for anything, you were useless in the war so they always had to make sure everybody was well.
Juanqui- Were there enough beds for everyone?
Jose- Yes, the first thing they did when you got there is assign you a bunk and gives you a plate to eat. The food that they gave you was really good, nutritious and delicious.
Christian- Can you give us an example?
Jose- Yes, like for instance for break fast, usually every morning it was eggs with toast and butter, and orange juice.
Juanqui- Didn’t you guys eat from cans and rations.
Jose- Most of the time we had cooks that in the morning will plan out the menu of the day and they would give you fresh food because you always had to have your stomach full of food because you would always be walking with a gun, which in my case, was taller than you. So you have to eat a lot because you would always be walking patrolling and moving from position to position.
Juanqui- Which gun did you have?
Jose- I had a Garand
All three- (Mouth open in shock)
Jose- the U.S M1 Garand weights about 16 pounds.
Juanqui- Yeah that when you would finish firing the clip would jump out of the gun.
Jose- Yes and it would take me back every time I fired. It was very powerful, but you had to know how to use it. You would have to know how to use it, you had to always, when not in battle have it pointing up, when you had it in battle always point it forward not anywhere else. That is why you went to training, to teach you discipline, only those who followed orders and did everything asked to where the ones who survived the war.
Joshua- Do you have anything of the war still here?
Jose- Let me tell you something, when you come out of the Army, the first thing you do is burn everything that will remind you of it, because, well, war is not something good, not something you should be proud of.
Joshua- Mmmhh
Christian- Now we are going to ask some questions
Jose- Yes, yes of course
Christian- Do you want to ask one?
Joshua- Sure, How old were you when you entered service?
Jose- I was 18-19 years old, I hade just come out of my first year of college but I was twenty- one, twenty-two by the time the war was over.
Juanqui- Where were you stationed?
Jose- I was stationed at Vega Baja before the war started and I was chosen by my records and sent to North Africa to the Strait of Gibraltar.
Christian- What do you think about the filming of War?
Jose- Well, I believe that you should never film something as terrible as war; it is just something that people should not see and show everybody the horror and shock of it. I believe they should spend there money on filming something else.
Joshua- Where you ever in any danger?
Jose- Well, you are always in danger when you are in the war, anything can happen, you go outside to use the bathroom and a German can shoot you or they can take you away as a prisoner. It is something very scary.
Joshua- Where you ever wounded?
Jose- Luckily, I was never but I do remember that one time we were doing our normal walk about for 10 miles but at one point, we were hit by enemy artillery and the man in front of me was head directly and he flew upward and landed on a tree. When he landed on the tree he broke both his arms and we rushed to get him down but it took us ten minutes because there was no ladder but by the time we brought him down, he was dead. He was Puertorican.
All three- Oh my god.
Jose- Yes, it was hurtful to see a friend die like that, too see him fly up straight into the air, and break his arms, I just hope no one has to see that ever.
Joshua- Do ever has nightmares about the war?
Jose- Almost everyday, I either dream about me and my friends together or having a nightmare about explosions and bullets firing.
Christian- Did you ever visit Africa again?
Jose- No, I have not but I have visited France and Germany but never Africa.
Christian- How was it going through the same place you had gone through but without the fear of death?
Jose- It was peaceful, before people used to hide from us but now it is great and everything seems friendlier.
Christian- Did you ever visit back Puerto Rico while at the army.
Jose- No, I never did.
Christian- So you always were in Africa.
Jose- Yes, I do remember once, the civilians were hungry so were went to give them food and one lady was so appreciated that she gave me as a gift a brand new German Luger, from manufacture, in a wooden box and everything.
All three- ( jaws open, Juanqui in shock for 12 seconds in the video)
Jose- IT was beautiful, it was black, it fired with a little touch, it was very comfortable, I always had it in my waist belt.
Joshua- Do you still have it?
Jose- No, I don’t.
All three- Awww
Jose- When I came back to Puerto Rico, I gave it as a gift to my dad but since he was a police man for 50 years, he asked me to give it in to a Police officer since I did not have a license for it. But, I respected my father so I did it with no remorse. Well, guys, it has been a pleasure to meet you and to have had this conversation.
Christian- (Shaking hands) It was a pleasure to meet you
Juanqui- Thank you
Joshua- Nice to meet you.
Christian- Joshua, do you want to end it with a speech or something.
Joshua- Mmhhh
Christian- Forget it.