By RENE TORRES
By 1946, Cpl. Jose Maria Loya was home from the war and his experiences of the conflict, to a large extent, were much different than that of the regular soldier.
His story was published in the Brownsville daily based on an interview and article written by Clarence LaRoche. The following is Loya’s story—as told by him: It was on April 6, 1941 that Loya, along with other selectees, left San Benito to start their military service. From the time the busload of Valley boys left the Resaca City to their final training destination, their preparation was put on a fast track.
The South Texas boys were first taken to Fort Sam Houston and soon after, Loya was transferred to Fort Wallace—finishing his training at Fort Bliss. Within months, they were overseas and staring at the ugly face of war.
On September of the same year, Jose was in Mania. There, he was assigned to the 200 Coast Artillery Unit and placed in Battery “F”—his job was that of a gun crewman, loading 37-millimeter anti-aircraft shells.
Unfortunately, his life as a soldier took a turn for the worse when he was captured by the enemy. He spent the next two and half years as a prisoner of war— where each day was agitated by cruelty.
“The Bataan Death March,” they wrote about in the papers, was everything they said it was—only worse,” Loya narrated. “I estimated it took four days to make the trip from Bataan to Camp O’Donnell. During that time, we had a few handfuls of rice and muddy water—when we could get it.”
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