Hometown: Pacoima, CA
Branch: U.S. Army
Unit: Company A, 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division
Military Honors: Medal of Honor, Bronze Star, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: April 25, 1945 - KIA on the Villa Verde Trail, Luzon, Philippine Islands
Age: 21
Conflict: World War II, 1939-1945

Born on June 9, 1923, David Gonzales was one of 14 children in a family of Mexican immigrants living in Pacoima, a suburb on the northern edge of Los Angeles, California.

Gonzales worked in a machine shop for a time, then joined the United States Army in March of 1944. Assigned to Company A, 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, he was sent to the Pacific Theater of World War II (1939-1945).

The Japanese had been in control of the Philippine Islands since May 1942, when they defeated American forces and caused Gen. Douglas MacArthur to retreat and famously declare, “I shall return.” More than two years later, in October 1944, the Americans did return and were on the offensive. In a boost to the nation’s morale, MacArthur was filmed wading ashore on the Philippine Island of Leyte.

Three months later, on January 9, 1945, the U.S. landed more than 60,000 troops on the island of Luzon. Retaking Luzon proved to be difficult and costly, with the Japanese entrenched in “an intricate defensive network of caves and tunnels,” according to History.com.

PFC David Gonzales and his 32nd Infantry Division fought in the long Battle of Luzon, which would last for more than seven months. On April 25, 1945, Gonzales’ actions would earn him the nation’s highest military award for valor—the Congressional Medal of Honor. His citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor (Posthumously) to Private First Class David M. Gonzales, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty on 25 April 1945, while serving with Company A, 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, in action at Hill 507, Villa Verde, Luzon, Philippine Islands. Private First Class Gonzales was pinned down with his company. As enemy fire swept the area, making any movement extremely hazardous, a 500-pound bomb smashed into the company’s perimeter, burying five men with its explosion. Private First Class Gonzales, without hesitation, seized an entrenching tool and under a hail of fire crawled 15 yards to his entombed comrades, where his commanding officer, who had also rushed forward, was beginning to dig the men out. Nearing his goal, he saw the officer struck and instantly killed by machine gun fire. Undismayed, he set to work swiftly and surely with his hands and the entrenching tool while enemy sniper and machinegun bullets struck all about him. He succeeded in digging one of the men out of the pile of rock and sand. To dig faster he stood up regardless of the greater danger from so exposing himself. He extricated a second man, and then another. As he completed the liberation of the third, he was hit and mortally wounded, but the comrades for whom he so gallantly gave his life were safely evacuated. Private First Class Gonzales’ valiant and intrepid conduct exemplifies the highest tradition of military service.

On December 8, 1945, President Harry S. Truman presented the Medal of Honor to Gonzales’ mother, Rita Gonzales Duarte, his wife, Steffanie, and his newborn son, David V. Gonzales. Due to an error, other awards—including a Bronze Star Medal—were never received by the family.

57 years later, the error was corrected at a Veterans Day ceremony in Los Angeles. U.S. Representative Howard L. Berman handed the missing awards to Gonzales’ son, by then 58 years old. Berman remarked, “When America no longer produces someone like David M. Gonzales, America ceases to exist as a beacon of liberty and freedom for the rest of the world.”

PFC Gonzales was 21 years old when he gave his life to save others. In his honor, a Los Angeles County Park was renamed “David M. Gonzales/Pacoima Recreational Center.” The Pacoima Army recruiting station now bears his name, as does a Los Angeles County Probation Department camp in Malibu, California.

Sources
Congressional Medal of Honor Society: David Gonzales
Los Angeles Times, Nov. 8, 2002: 57 Years Later, Hero Gets Medals
Military Times—Hall of Valor: David M. Gonzales
Military Hall of Honor: PFC David M. Gonzales
History.com: United States invades Luzon in Philippines
Burial Site: Find a Grave