November 10, 1994

By QUINTIN GUERRERO WILLIAMS

MARFA — Jose Magallanez Villanueva — most of us know him as Pepe — is a man who loves life and by anyone’s standards has lived it to its fullest. He served his country during World War II, and he’s one of the many Marfans, living and deceased, who are worthy of honor Friday on Veterans Day.

Pepe, now 71, entered the Army in response to our nation’s call for its young men to fight for our country, cause and freedom after the United States was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor and Germany and its Axis partners swept across Europe and Northern Africa with totalitarianism on its mind.

Pepe completed his basic training in El Paso and North Carolina and was among the second wave of Americans and Allies to hit the beach at Omaha, Normandy, three days after D-Day. From there, his unit confronted the Germans at the Siegfried Line, where the allied armies met heavy resistance. At one point during a three- to four-day battle, Pepe’s unit was pinned down by heavy fire from German concrete bunkers, or pillboxes, as they were called back then. Heavily fortified and well camouflaged, the German artillery guns were near impenetrable and the Americans were taking tremendous losses.

Allied night patrols were sent out to locate pillboxes for heavy barrage and aerial bombardment by allied forces. During one of these patrols, Pepe came within whispering distance to the voices of German soldiers manning a pillbox. It was pitch-black as Pepe and others went out into the night to try to locate and mark the enemy position.

Pepe’s patrol was discovered by Germans who opened fire. The Americans responded with a barrage of their own. Pepe and his company were caught in a cross fire. As he made a retreat. Pepe fell through the opening of a pillbox and into the midst of the Germans. His rifle clattered on the concrete floor as did his helmet. Pepe was a prisoner of war and the Germans ordered him to be quiet; there still were American soldiers outside trying to find the enemy positions.

The Allied barrage continued and the Germans maintained their well- disciplined silence to avoid discovery. Distracted by the bombing, the Germans didn’t see Pepe move to a corner to wait for the barrage to stop so that he could make a run for his life. Three or four hours later the bombardment stopped as daylight broke. Pepe made his move, through the opening he had fallen in initially, and out he went, only to realize he had forgotten his rifle in the pillbox. You guessed it, Pepe went back for it and again he was taken prisoner. As quiet as he could, Pepe retrieved his rifle and again sneaked out heading back toward his own lines.

Halfway down a hill, the Germans spotted Pepe and opened fire. The Americans did the same, and Pepe again was caught in a cross fire. Pepe dodged the bullets and he made it back to his unit. From the information he and others brought back, the pillboxes were destroyed.

In a subsequent battle, Pepe was struck by the concussion of  a bombshell blast that landed near him. Though he didn’t appear physically wounded, he was knocked unconscious and sent to an army hospital in Luxembourg where he spent six weeks in recovery. His superiors didn’t think his injuries warranted the Purple Heart or any citation and he went on to fight in five major campaigns during the war until victory in Europe was achieved in May 1945.

I consider Pepe a good friend and a person I have admired for a number of years. Was it the fact that he was like my Uncle Juan or that he was like my Uncle Guadalupe or does he remind me of an unknown image of my long deceased father, Catarino Brito Williams? Like my father and two uncles, the Villanueva brothers, Pepe, Richard and Urbano, went in threes to serve their country. Like my father and uncles, the Villanuevas served in the Army and the Navy. Each of the two families had a recipient of the Purple Heart for being wounded in battle. Urbano ‘Nano’ Villanueva and Guadalupe ‘Lupe’ Williams both brought back our nation’s Purple

Heart. Richard Villanueva and Juan B. Williams both brought back interesting war stories about their adventures against the Japanese while serving in the Navy in the Pacific. My father never got the chance to tell me about what he did in the war; he was murdered in 1946 not long after his discharge from the Army. The three Williams brothers are now departed from our lives and from this world, may their souls rest in peace. Jose Magallanez ‘Pepe’ Villanueva is my friend and my hero for obvious reasons.

This year, the 50th anniversary of the D-Day and with Veteran’s Day Friday, we should pay tribute to these, our heroes for the sacrifices that they made so that we might enjoy the freedoms that we now exercise. Pepe’s parents, Bartolo and Concha Villanueva, were blessed with 13 children: Richardo, Urbano ‘Nano,’ Pepe, Magdalena, Adelida, Hortencia, Reynaldo, Luz, Paz, Romelia, Charlie and twin girls, Maria Rosa and Maria del Rosario, known to us as ‘La Guera’ and ‘La Prieta.’

It’s a very wonderful family who itself deserves kudos and accolades. After the war, Pepe returned to Marfa, and like many of our veterans, as unsung heroes. He would marry a Fort Davis girl, Genoveva Razo. Together, they brought into the world four wonderful kids: Antonio, Millie, Oscar and Olga Villanueva. Millie has been taken from us, but to her, to your surviving kids, your brothers and sisters and to me, Pepe, you are a hero. You and all the veterans who served in all the wars from World War II, Korea” Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, you are all heroes and I thank you for having served my country.