The military life suited Vincent Lopez very nicely. Boot camp and drill sergeants were easy to handle for someone who traveled throughout California working as a farm laborer since he was a young boy.

Traveling on ships to the South Pacific and undergoing extensive training on a tropical island didn’t seem so bad, either. To Lopez, it was more like a vacation far away from his family.

“It was a big adventure for me,” said Lopez.

It didn’t take long for Lopez to view his circumstances very differently once the invasion of the Philippines was underway. Even before the troops disembarked from their transport ship Lopez’s unit suffered its first death.

“The first experience when I knew there was a war on was when we were unloading from a transport,” said Lopez. “We went over the side on cargo nets and climbed down into the Higgins boats. They told us not to look down or you will get dizzy. Someone did get dizzy and they fell all the way down. They became our first casualty. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this is serious.’”

The 25th Division landed Jan. 11, 1945 near San Fabian on the island of Luzon. The unit didn’t encounter any resistance on the beaches and began its advance across the Luzon Central Plain.

Lopez served as a scout for Company L of the 161st Regiment, an assignment that few of his fellow soldiers envied.

“I remember hearing the length of time a scout lived was just seconds because they drew fire,” said a smiling Lopez. “I said, ‘Well, that’s the way it goes.’ I wasn’t worried about that.”

Lopez’s first experience in combat came just a few days after arriving on Luzon. He and another scout were searching an area for Japanese troops but were unable to find any. It wasn’t until they signaled the rest of the company to follow them that they realized their mistake.

“We scouted around and didn’t see anything,” said Lopez. “So, we told the company to follow. But there was an old beat up garage nearby and inside was a tank. He came out and started firing. That was my first experience in battle.”

Lopez was lucky to escape the encounter unscathed. It wouldn’t be the last time that luck seemed to be on his side.

For the next two months Lopez would be involved in numerous battles and experience countless brushes with death. Each time, however, he sensed a guiding influence that kept him safe.

“At the time, I don’t know why, but I would be crawling or moving trying to defend myself and I would get a feeling to move to the right or the left,” said Lopez. “I would do that and after I moved a shell would fall right where I had been. It happened many times.”

In the heat of battle, Lopez didn’t give this guiding hand much thought. He certainly never considered it to be a sign from God.

“I wasn’t religious,” said Lopez. “I’m Catholic but I never prayed at all during the war. Nothing.”

But as the strange occurrences continued Lopez couldn’t shake the feeling that some unexplained force was at work.

“I thought they couldn’t be a coincidence because they kept happening,” said Lopez. “One time I had this feeling to hide on the other side of a little hill. I did and then shells started falling. The Japanese had these large guns shooting at us. But I was on the other side of the hill and they could have fired all day and I wouldn’t get hit.”

Change of luck

Although Lopez never felt invincible on the battlefield he started to believe that something special was happening to him. What it was or what it all meant remained a total mystery.

In February of 1945, the 25th Division had begun fighting the Japanese in the Caraballo Mountains while pushing toward the strategically important Balete Pass.

“Whoever had control of the pass would have control of the island,” said Lopez.

Fierce fighting ensued in the weeks leading up to the eventual capture of the pass. It was during this time that Lopez’s luck appeared to have finally run out.

On the evening of March 24, Lopez was one of a dozen men assigned outpost duty about 2,000 yards from the main body of troops.

The men dug in near a small trail and remained vigilant for any type of movement. The Americans were well aware of the Japanese’s propensity for night attacks.

It was Lopez who first noticed something approaching in the darkness.

“I alerted my companions to approaching noises,” said Lopez. “When they got close enough we opened fire. They recovered and started firing at us. The battle went on all night.”

The outpost squad was met with a disturbing scene in the early morning light. The Japanese held the high ground and had established a strong defensive position.

“In the morning the rest of the company came in and the order was to get them off that hill,” said Lopez.

A fierce firefight ensued as the Americans began their assault against the entrenched enemy. Lopez was beginning to advance toward the hill when a Japanese soldier threw a hand grenade directly at him. It exploded just a few feet away from his face.

After lying motionless on the battlefield for an undetermined amount of time, Lopez slowly began to regain consciousness. But everything around him was in total darkness. As soon as he touched his face he knew why.

“I was knocked out for awhile, I don’t know how long,” said Lopez. “When I came to I couldn’t see anything. I was totally blind. My left eye was blown out. I felt it with my hand. My left eye was completely gone and the retina was torn in the right eye.”

The terror and panic of suffering such a horrible wound was only exasperated by the continuous roar of the battle all around him.

“I could still hear the battle,” said Lopez. “There were hand grenades exploding, shells exploding and rifle fire exploding. I didn’t know which direction to go. I couldn’t see. That was horrible not knowing. Should I go forward or go back? Should I go to the left or go to the right? I didn’t know.

“I knew I had to get out of there but I didn’t know how. I started yelling for my comrades. They answered back and I could hear their voices. They kind of guided me out of there but there was firing all over the place.”

Completely blind and in shock, Lopez slowly crawled back to the American lines where medics quickly began to administer first aid. But as they put him on a stretcher and began to carry him toward safety they came under heavy fire from the Japanese.

“When I was on the stretcher there were bullets flying all over,” said Lopez. “They were shooting at us. I wasn’t afraid but I knew I was in danger.”

Lopez was carried to the nearest field station where his wounds were treated and bandaged.

“It took them awhile to get me to the field station,” said Lopez. “By then I was just numb. I used to think that when you get hit you feel it. Well, you really don’t. The shock is so great that you feel numb. You don’t have pain until the shock wears off.”

After being flown to a hospital on the island of Leyte, Lopez was eventually placed aboard a hospital ship headed back to the United States. While aboard the ship an officer attempted to convince Lopez that fortune still smiled upon him.

“When I was returning on a hospital ship I met the captain of our company,” said Lopez. “He said, ‘Vincent, you were very lucky. After you were wounded we were almost wiped out. They had to replace almost the whole regiment. You were lucky to get out of there.”

Despite the officer’s claim, Lopez didn’t feel very lucky. He couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to the guiding force that protected him so many times before.

It would take a few more years and some deep soul searching before Lopez could honestly believe that he was truly a lucky man.

(Part three of this story will appear in next week’s edition.)