Retired Army Col. Joseph C. Rodriguez was a private first class when he was cited for bravery during the Korean War. Col Joe passed away on November 1, 2005.
Joseph C. Rodriguez was born of Mexican parentage and raised in San Bernardino, California. He hardly could have realized the future that lay before him when with a major in Architecture, he graduated from San Bernardino Valley College in 1950. Within a few months he was drafted into the Army and rode under cattle car conditions in the winter from Fort Ord, California to Camp Carson, Colorado where he took infantryman's training with the 196th Regimental Combat Team. Departing from Fort Lawton, Washington, and making that long boat ride across the Pacific Ocean, Private Rodriguez found himself in the Korean war assigned to the 7th Infantry Division, 17th Infantry Regiment, Company F.
Joe soon became a seasoned combat veteran. In May 1951 he distinguished himself in battle near the small, rural community of Munye-ri. Munye-ri is sonic 30 miles North of the 38th parallel in central Korea. A week later Joe was hit by enemy small arms lire.
Alter evacuation to a hospital in Japan and three months rehabilitation, Joe requested to rejoin his unit back in Korea. Near the end of the year Sergeant Rodriguez was called back stateside for an appointment with President Harry Truman to be bestowed with the Medal of Honor for his battlefield accomplishments at Munye-ri.
As part of his citation, reads, "Fully aware of the odds against him, Sergeant Rodriguez leaped to his feet, dashed 60 yards up the fire-swept slope, and, after lobbing grenades into the first foxhole with deadly accuracy, ran around the left flank, silenced an automatic weapon with two grenades and continued his whirlwind assault to the top of the peak, wiping out two more foxholes and then, reaching the right flank, he tossed grenades into the remaining emplacement destroying the gun and annihilating its crew.” “the defense of the opposition was broken, and the enemy routed, and the strategic strong-point secured.”
Joe's next assignment was in Reserve Officers Training Corps administration at his San Bernardino Valley College alma mater. There his officers planted seeds of thought to obtain a commission and explore the opportunities available to a professional army officer. An affirmative response allowed Sergeant First Class Rodriguez to become 2nd Lieutenant Rodriguez, Corps of Engineers, with his wife-to-be assisting in pinning on his bars in June 1952.
In the Engineers, Joe's first assignment involved engineering support for an Air Force unit that took him from sunny southern California to a winter in northern Maine. Subsequent assignments in the Far East included another tour in Korea, with assignment to the 802 Engineer Battalion and as Post Engineer for the Camp Humphries District, and a tour in Vietnam. Duties included Platoon Leader, Company Commander, Battalion Commander. Instructor. Army Advisor, a staff member at various levels and Facilities Engineer.
Subsequent assignments brought Joe and his family to Bolivia, Argentina. Puerto Rico and twice to the Panama Canal Zone. Duties involved working with military missions in those countries with further special assignments in Puerto Rico, where he was an advisor to the National Guard of Puerto Rico and in the Panama Canal Zone where he was Director of the Technology Department at the School of the Americas and where he later served four years with the Inter-American Geodetic Survey Department. Joe's engineering background, diverse military experience and fluent Spanish made him especially valuable in these positions.
Alter twelve consecutive years overseas, Joe's last Army assignment was at Fort Bliss as Facilities Engineer of the installation. After serving 30 years in the Army, retired Colonel Rodriguez and his wife elected to settle m El Paso. Here he went on professionally as Director of the Physical Plant at the University of Texas at El Paso for ten years.
Joe attended numerous military schools and universities and with his wife of over 50 years, Rose, raised two sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Charles, a West Point graduate, is now an Assistant Vice President in the University of Texas system and now Lieutenant General Charles Rodriguez is Adjutant General of the Texas National Guard. Lawrence, the second son, is employed by Wells Fargo Bank and daughter, Karen, a Registered Nurse, is married to a Lt. Col. in the Army Nurse Corps. Their three children have given the senior Rodriguezs eleven grandchildren.
An enthusiastic golfer, retired Colonel Rodriguez officially held four holes-in-one.