George J. Matta Sr. - Co-Author
George J. Matta Sr. joined the Army on 16 Oct 1942. He received his basic training at Camp Croft, South Carolina, where he graduated from a specialist’s school as a skilled armorer.
Later at Camp Adair, Oregon, he broke the camp record for marksmanship with a machine gun. Something that was to prove useful to him in the near future.
August 1944, he was sent overseas attached to the 96th Infantry Division, 382nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Heavy Weapons Company H. During WWII, he served 16 months in the Western Pacific and Southern Philippines, supervising the activities of a heavy weapons .30 caliber machine gun section, providing fire in support of other tactical units. He had direct supervisory control over 15 enlisted men.
He fought in the Battle of Leyte from Oct to Dec 1944. He was promoted to SSgt in Dec 1944. While fighting in the Philippines, he helped wipe out a nest of 11 Japanese soldiers.
After that, he took part in the Battle of Okinawa, fighting in the southern front from Apr to Jun 1945. In that battle, he was part of a machine gun crew credited with firing more than 18,000 rounds of ammunition in one day. His machine gun crew knocked out two Japanese antitank guns; a pillbox; a number of caves and killed more than 39 Japanese soldiers.
For his service in WWII, he was awarded the Bronze Star, the Combat Infantryman Badge with two Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Purple Heart with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters for wounds received on 29 Oct 1944, 20 Nov 1944, and 26 June 1945
He returned to the U.S. with his regiment, which was deactivated on 3 February 1946, at Camp Anza, California.
He was discharged on 28 Nov 1945, receiving the Victory Medal, Good Contact Medal, American Theatre Campaign, Asiatic Pacific Theatre Campaign, and Philippine Liberation with two bronze stars, in addition to those already mentioned.
He returned to the Army enlisting again on 15 Sep 1948 and was stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington as a Supply Sergeant. As part of the 2nd Infantry Division, which included the 38th Infantry Regiment, he was shipped to Korea, arriving in Korea at the port of Pusan in Aug of 1950.
On 12 Feb 1951, just north of Wonju, the convoy he was a part of was ambushed by hundreds of Chinese soldiers, and he was captured. He became a POW on that day and was not released until 802 days later, on 25 Apr 1953, as part of Operation Little Switch.
He went on to serve in his third conflict in Da Nang during the Vietnam War. He ended his 28-year career on 30 Nov 1971, when he retired from service.
He remained an active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and the Ex-POW Association. He continued to fight for veterans and their causes for the remainder of his life.