Hispanic Heritage Month remembers Medal of Honor recipient Salvador Lara

As Hispanic Heritage Month heads toward its Oct. 15 close a new video from the Navy Memorial's interview archive is retelling the story of Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sgt. Salvador J. Lara. Lara was born in Riverside and fought in Italy with the Army's 45th Infantry Division in World War II.

Two days near Aprilia

On May 27 and 28 in 1944 Lara was a private first class leading a rifle squad near the Italian town of Aprilia. On the first afternoon he gathered three other soldiers and attacked a stretch of enemy trench. They killed four and forced 15 to surrender and drove two mortar crews off their weapons. That opened the way for his unit and the one beside it to reach their objective.

The next morning a severe leg wound did not stop him. His company was pinned down by machine-gun fire so Lara asked permission to take it out with only a Browning Automatic Rifle. He crawled forward alone and then rose and charged the first nest and killed its crew. He silenced a second gun and forced two more crews to flee. Then he rejoined his company and kept fighting until it took its objective.

A late recognition

Lara first received the Distinguished Service Cross. A law passed in 2002 ordered a review of the records of Jewish American and Hispanic American veterans to make sure no one had been passed over because of prejudice. That review led to the upgrade of his medal. President Barack Obama presented the Medal of Honor on March 18 in 2014 at the White House and Lara's brother Alfonzo accepted it for him.

Obama awarded 24 Medals of Honor that day to Army veterans and most of them were Hispanic. Lara survived the Italian campaign but died on Sept. 1 in 1945. He is buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery in France.