The Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), No. 31, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 28, 1987 Page: 1 of 16
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THE RIO GRANDE NEhalu
Serving Starr County For Five Decade
H.E.B.
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Published in Rio Grande City, Texas, Every Thursday By The Rio Grande Publishing Co.
No. 31 THURSDAY, MAY 28,1987
FIFTEEN CENTS
Starr Veterans Have
The Rio High valedictorian and salutatorian of the
class of 1987 are pictured above. Lara Hinojosa, the
valedictorian with a 99.9000 average, is on the left, and
Marissa Porras, the salutatorian with a 98.6000 average,
is on the right.
Bv KENNETH ROBERTS
Managing Editor
(Editor's note: This two-part
series is intended to focus on the
courage that veterans from Starr
County have shown on the bat-
tlefields during our nation's histo-
ry. This article focuses almost
entirely on the experiences of Starr
County fighting men during World
War II. However, at some point in
the future. The Herald plans to
focus on those veterans who served
our country in the Korean and
Vietnam conflicts).
Starr County's veterans of World
War II served the United States
with great distinction and bravery
during that bloody, but ultimately
successful, worldwide conflict
against the tyranny of Fascism.
Almost all of the veterans that
The Herald was fortunate to have
interviewed served in the European
theater.
Eligio Bazan of Rio Grande City
Rio High Seniors
Graduate Saturday
Commencement exercises for the
Rio Grande City High School class
of 1987 are scheduled for Saturday
at 8 p.m. at Rattler Stadium
In the event of inclement weath
er, the graduation exercises will be
moved into the High School
Auditorium Inclement weather
forced the 1986 commencement
exercises to be moved indoors.
The two highest ranking stu-
dents, valedictorian Lara Hinojosa
and Salutatorian Marissa Forras
will be the featured speaker.
Hinojosa, who is the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Jose A. Hinojosa, has
a four-year average of 99.9000. The
salutatorian, Marissa Porras, has
an average of 98 3000, and is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs Domingo
Forras.
Rio High Principal Ruben Saenz
commented, "This class has been a
real good class of young people.
This is the first class for which the
TEAMS requirements were in
effect."
Saenz indicated that 50 percent of
the graduating seniors plan to
attend post-secondary schools and
study in such fields as engineering,
medicine, teaching, and industrial
trades.
Saenz commented, "I think the
potential for success is very high.
This is probably one of the best
levels of educated classes."
A highlight of the exercises will
be the awarding of scholarships to
deserving students by various
organizations, such as the National
Honor Society
David Diaz, the senior class
president, will be the master of
ceremonies During the program,
Lily Lopez will read a relevant
poem. their records of service.
Also, retiring personnel will be The schedule for the commen-
recognized and commended for cement exercises is set out below:
Program
ProcGssional
Pomp and Circumctance
R. G. C. Band
Master of Ceremony
David Diaz
Sonior Class Preu.
Invocation
Lily I.opez
Senior Class Secretary
Presentation
or Colors R- G* c* lli9h School
F. F. A.
National Anthem P.. G. C. Land
Lupita and Lduina
Pledne of Allegiance Lara Hinojosa
Salutatory Address Jlariasa Porras
Introduction of Platform Guests Mr. Ruben Saenz
High School Principal
Musical Selection P. G. C. Land
room
Valedictory Address
Certification of Graduates
Awarding Diplomas
recognition Of Retiring Personnel
recognition of Parents
recess iona1
benediction
Alna Mater
Lily Lopez
Lara Hinojosa
Dr. A. E. Garcia
Super intendent
Keubers of the school
Board of Trustees
Dr. A. E. Garcia
Superintendent
Nr. Ruben Saenz
High School Principal
"Us Golondrinas"
Band
Mnrissa Porras
Gt "jduates
Roma Commencement
Set For Friday
Commencement ceremonies are
set for Friday at 7 p.m for this
year's class of seniors at Koma
High School
The graduation exercises are
scheduled to take place at the
Koma High Gym
There are 156 candidates for
graduation in the class of 1987
Isauro Garza is the valedictorian
with a grade average of 94 58
Edgar A Hinojosa is the
salutatorian with an average of
93 24 The top girl is Daphne
Munoz, who has an average of
92 34
After the processional, the honor
to the flag, and the national
anthem, Beatriz Garcia, an honor
student, will lead in the recitation
of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Father Roy Snipes will give the
invocation, and Roma ISD Superin
tendent Eleuterio Garza. Jr., will
give the welcome Class President
Isauro Garza will speak greetings
to the graduating class
The highest ranking girl, Daphne
Munoz, will speak on the theme "A
Sense of Pride
Salutatorian Edgar A Hinojosa
will speak on the theme of "How
We Used To Be." Valedictorian
Isauro Garza's address will be on
the theme, "The Greatest Love of
All."
Principal Humberto Vasquez will
then present scholarships After
that, assistant principals Antonio
R. Guerra and Danelo I Gonzalez
will present departmental awards
The class gift will be presented
by honor student Roxanna Salinas
The diplomas will then be a-
warded by the district administra-
tion and the board of trustees At
the conclusion of the program will
be the recessional.
Rio Native Studies
Architecture In . Italy
Marty Lopez, 22, of Rio Grande
City and a student at Texas A&M
University, returned to Texas just
last week after spending four
months in Italy studying
architecture and environmental
design.
Lopez is the daughter of Mr and
Mrs. Romeo Lopez of Rio Grande
City, mid a 1983 graduate of °io
Grande City High School. _.ie
majors in architectural design at
Texas A&M University, and
expects to graduate next May
Lopez summed up her four-
month visit to Europe as follows:
"I think I've grown a lot since I've
left I can really appreciate
architecture and art, as well as
different cultures and different
ways of life."
She added, "I want to encourage
other students to study abroad, to
experience different cultures and
different ways of life."
She was one of 47 students from
Texas A&M's College of
Architecture and Environmental
Design that made the trip to Italy
She noted that two professors, one
of them Italian, also made the trip
Lopez noted that "the program is
for third and fourth-year students
that study architecture "
She indicated that the facility at
which the students studied is
located near Florence, and used to
be an old monastery
Florence, she not^d, is "about a
three-hour train trip from Rome.
School was every day: we had
classes there (at the old former
served as a Private First Class
with the 2nd Infantry Division, 23rd
Regiment, and participated in the
momentous landing of Allied troops
on "Omaha Beach" in Normandy,
France on June 6,1944.
Bazan said, "The seas (English
Channel) were kind of rough, but
we still were able to go. We could
hardly see the beach; we could see
the smoke coming from the Ger-
man artillery and American bat-
tleships. We started the invasion at
around 6 a.m."
The first American troops that
landed were met by savage Ger-
man resistance. Bazan noted that
"there was heavy artillery,
machine guns, whatever they had.
It was very hard; they had a lot of
barbed wire set under water, and a
lot of mines on the beach. Most of
the mines were blown up by the
same artillery, but some were still
live when we hit the beach."
Bazan said, "I don't recall how
many people were in front of me.
My thought was to keep going
forward, and not look back. I had a
rifle and bazooka Right on the
beach, you couldn't see anything,
and you couldn't use the bazooka."
He added, "The cliffs were pretty
high. It took 12 to 15 hours to
secure the beach They (the
Germans) were pretty tough. We
bombed the German resistance,
but there were still some gun
emplacements and pillboxes. Walls
of the pillboxes were very thick
with concrete."
As the Allies gradually expanded
their beachhead into the interior of
France, resistance from the enemy
continued to be fierce.
Bazan noted that "they called it
'the Battle of Hedge Rows'. The
land was level, but there wm a
bolder of c'trt about neck high on
each field. You could find three
machine guns on each hedge row
It was tougher there than on the
beach. You could find three
machine guns on each hedgerow
The hedgerows were throughout
Normandy and the Brittany
Peninsula."
Bazan said that both the
hedgerows and the enemy re-
sistance began to thin out seme as
the Americans moved closer to
Paris.
When the Americans broke
through at St Lo, Bazan was
"knocked out by an artillery shell.
The concussion of the shell knocked
me out. It was about 12 feet away.
Then they pulled me out of combat.
They kept me in the field hospital
for about a week."
After that, Bazan was pulled out
of combat, and served as an M.P.
in France for the remainder of the
R inggold
Jr. High
Exercises
Promotional exercises are
scheduled Thursday at 7 p.m. for
approximately 350 eighth graders
at Ringgold Jr High School in Rio
Grande City
The exercises are scheduled to
take place at the High School
Auditorium.
Principal Walter N. Watson says
that the students themselves will
be the featured speakers at the
promotional exercises
A reception for the promoted
eighth graders will follow the
actual exercises.
war, before returning to the United
States in 1946 He recalled captur-
ing a German colonel on the boxcar
of a train.
About that incident, Bazan
commented, "I called my superior
officer. He (the German S.S
colonel) was trying to run from the
Germans or from the French. 1
don't know what they ever did to
that man.'1
Bazan recalled that German
attacks from the air were a
tremendous threat to the ground
troops at the beginning of the
Normandy campaign.
He said, "(Dwight) Eisenhower
and (British General Bernard)
Montgomery got together and dis-
cussed the air problem and^ade a
decision to go all-out to des*.. oy the
German Air Force. They (the
Allied Air Forces) used to bomb
the German airfields and aircraft
factories day and night."
Bazan offered the opinion that "if
the German Air Force hadn't been
broken, who knows where we'd be
today." He singled out the P-47,
P-51, and P-38 U.S. Air Force
fighters as being particularly ef-
fective, commenting that "they
strafed German convoys all the
time."
Bazan indicated that "my outfit
(eventually) went down to Pilson,
Czechoslovakia We were fighting
the 11th Panzer Division."
For his combat efforts, Bazan
was awarded the Bronze Star
Juan Jose Perez, Reynaldo
Molina and Reynaldo Reyna, all of
Rio Grande City, all served with
the 36th Infantry Division, or the
"Texas Division."
This division first landed in
North Alrica, played a pivotal role
in ih<- grueling campaign., in Uu.'y*
and landed on the coast of southern
France on Aug. 15,1944.
All three of these men sailed on
the same ship to the North African
war zone They landed in Oran,
Morocco on April 13. 1943, but
r led that "we just landed there;
vw didn't make any invasion."
The commanding general of the
36th Infantry Division was Gen
Fred L. Walker Gen Alexander
Patch commanded the U S. Sev-
enth Army in Italy. The 36th
Infantry Division was the first
American division to invade the
mainland of Europe, on Sept 9,
1943, at Salerno, Italy.
Of that rugged Italian invasion,
Juan Jose Perez said, "The in-
vasion of Salerno and Cassino was
most difficult. The beach was
ringed with cliffs. The Germans
had 88 artillery in the mountains
firing when we landed We started
at 2 a.m., and hit the beaches at
about 6 a.m."
After a day of bloody fighting,
said Perez, "we had secured the
beach, and begun backing the
enemy up."
He noted that Italy is full of
mountains; we had to take each
mountain one by one. Southern
France was rough, too. There were
mountains there, too."
Reynaldo Reyna simply com-
mented, "It (the entire war) was
tough from the beginning to the
end, every day."
Perez was taken prisoner by the
Germans near the Rhine River on
Sept. 8, 1944. and was a prisoner of
war for eight months He recalled
that "they treated us pretty rough,
and gave us little to eat." He and
his fellow P.O.W's were liberated
by the 7th Army Division on May 3,
1945.
Perez had been wounded near
Casino Italy on the morning of
April 3, 1944. He was hit in the left
(See VETERANS. Page 41
San Isidro
Graduation Friday
Graduation exercises for the
senior class of San Isidro High
School are scheduled for Friday at
7 p.m at the High School Audi-
torium
There are 24 candidates for
graduation in this year's senior
class.
Sandra Farias, the valedictorian,
is the daughter of Mr. Juan Farias
and Ms. Minerva Farias. She has
an overall average of 94 6538.
Lori Lawrence, the salutatorian,
has an overall average of 93.8700
She is thedaughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Frank Lawrence.
The rest of the honor students
are Maritza Garza, third ranking;
Velma Saenz, fourth; Annabelle
Olivarez, fifth; and Sylvia Pantoja,
sixth.
For San Isidro High School as a
whole, the three top ranking
students for 1986-87 are Vicky
Lopez, ninth grade, 97.100 average;
Norma Ramos, 11th grade, 96.8833
average; and Nicolas Ramos, 10th
grade, 94.9750 average.
Sandra Farias
Lori Lawrence
Grulla Jr. High
Announces Top 3 Students
monastery), and lived there. Where
we lived, we were up in the
mountains."
Lopez noted that "we took a lot
of field trips and got to visit places
like Venice and Rome. I got to visit
Paris, too "
Lopez said, "We were taking a
history class, and we would go on a
field trip to various places. We
were also taking a structure class.
We would study the buildings from
top to bottom, historically and
structurally, as well as design.
Lopez indicated that she took 15
hours in all, including a six hour
design class
She added, "In different cities,
we got to see different banks In
Seina, we got to see one of the first
(See ITALY, Page 3)
Promotion exercises will take
place at Grulla Jr High this
Friday, beginning at 8 p.m
Grulla Jr. High announces the
top three students in the eighth
grade class for the 1986-87 school
year
The top students are Thor Rivera
with a G.P A. of 97.06, Melissa
Alaniz with a G.P.A. of 96.87, and
Denise Ortiz with a G.P A of 95.81
Committee Appointed
To Study Subdivisions
Starr County Judge Jose M.
Martinez, Jr., has appointed a
committee lo study the problem of
unregulated subdivisions in Starr
County
The 10 committee members are
Leonel "Nene" Lopez, Encarnacion
Garza, Romero Molina, David
Garza. Eiias Aguilar, Bob Maples,
Ms Emma Vera Mrs Frnestina
C Trevino, Si 1 vest re Gonzalez, and
Rene Montalvo
In early January, just alter
taking office, Martinez expressed
concern about ihe explosive growth
in subdivisions, saying that he
strongly favors controls.
At that time, he told The Rio
Grande Herald, "The county right
now is inheriting substandard sub
divisions I think the developer
should be required to put these
things (utilities, paving, and other
amenities i in before selling lots
Flood control should he part of the
developer's planning
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Roberts, Kenneth. The Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), No. 31, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 28, 1987, newspaper, May 28, 1987; Edinburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth195082/m1/1/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rio Grande City Public Library.