Last of the World War II Hero Street veterans dies

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By Tory Brecht | Wednesday, August 06, 2008 |

Mary and Louis Ramirez watch from their home as a veteran’s monument is delivered to Hero Street Park in 2001. The monument honors eight residents of the street, formerly known as 2nd Street, who died in combat. The street, in a Mexican-American neighborhood, is 1 1/2 blocks long and has 25 houses, but 110 residents have served in the American military. (FILE PHOTO) Buy this Photo

A pair of Navy guys, natives of Silvis, Ill., stood at the base of the Hero Street monument Wednesday, remembering their grandfather.

They were sad that Louis Ramirez, a gritty veteran of Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima, had succumbed Tuesday at age 89 after battling Alzheimer’s disease.

But mostly, they were proud and fiercely patriotic, the way their grandfather taught them to be.

“It’s a sense of honor for your community and pride in being an American,” said grandson Alfredo Villareal, a Navy cryptographer who said his grandfather was one of his inspirations. “You step up and do what you’ve got to do.”

That’s what Ramirez did when he joined the Army in the spring of 1941, nine months before the attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s entrance into World War II.

His sense of duty was instilled on the streets of Silvis, which has sent a disproportionate number of Mexican-American soldiers to war ever since the railroad attracted a large immigrant population to the area in the early 1900s.

The Hero Street monument — finally completed last fall — honors about two dozen Mexican-American families from whom eight sons made the ultimate sacrifice during World War II and the Korean War. Since then, more than 100 of those families’ sons and daughters have served in uniform.

Like many of the soldiers in his generation, Ramirez was low key when talking about his wartime exploits.

“Oh yeah, I was in some battles, real combat, things I want to forget,” he said in a June 2007 interview. “There came a point when all I felt I had was my helmet, my head and my gun. We really went through hell.”

His official record counts two bronze stars, the American Defense Medal, an Infantry Combat Badge, and a WWII Efficiency Medal.

Brian Muños, Ramirez’s great-nephew, said his uncle was proud when ground was finally broken on the Hero Street monument. His other great-uncle, John Muños, died in Korea and is one of eight men honored on the monument.

After the war, Ramirez bought a house on Hero Street, where he lived with his wife, Mary, and raised nine kids.

Muños said his uncle was a fixture in the neighborhood and a key proponent of getting a monument built.

“He and my grandfather were both very active in promoting this street,” Muños said. “He was quite a man, a giving man and a listening man. He was always there for people in this community.”

Villareal credits his grandfather for his long and successful Navy career, which started the year he left United Township High School in 1987.

In fact, five of Ramirez’s grandchildren ended up serving — two in the Navy, two in the Army and one in the Air Force.

“The military is seen as an honorable career around here,” he said. “Ever since I was a little kid, I knew I was going to join. Growing up around Hero Street and the monument, you see all the tributes. It makes you proud.”

Tory Brecht can be contacted at (563) 383-2329 or tbrecht@qctimes.com.