My Uncle Louie's Untold World War II Story

By Roy Ortega

Pvt. Louis V. Ortega

Author's note: The battlefield story of my uncle Louis V. Ortega is told largely by a few family members without the benefit of his official military records. Unfortunately, most details of Louie's service in World War II were destroyed in  a devastating fire in 1973 at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Sadly, Uncle Louie left no written record of his time in battle. The following accounts of Louie's war story were gleaned from oral histories given by several Ortega family members including his younger brother (my dad) Salvador V. Ortega (now deceased) and members of Louie's immediate family. The anecdotal stories were then reconciled with historical facts to offer this narrative of Louie's participation in World War II.

A Nation at War

D-Day 1944

As he approached his 17th birthday in late 1942, young Luis Valenzuela Ortega pondered his future in a world embroiled in a brutal war that raged in Europe and the South Pacific. For the thousands of young men of draft age living in the west side barrios of San Antonio, Texas, the war brought at least one assurance: They too would soon be headed to battlefields somewhere far away from home.

Military draft records show that Luis V. Ortega registered for the draft on December 11, 1942 one month and four days after his 17th birthday. His mother was listed as "Dolorese" (sic) Ortega. His place of birth was listed as Mexico (no city given) and his place of resident in 1942 was listed as San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. His height was shown as 5-feet-6 inches tall and a weight of 119 lbs with brown hair and gray eyes.

It is not known whether Luis enlisted or was drafted for military service. At the time, the draft age was 18 and it appears he may have entered the service in late 1943 upon reaching his 18th birthday.

The 45th Infantry Division

Upon completion of basic training in early 1944, Luis - who was now identified by the Army as "Louis" V. Ortega - was assigned to the famed 45th Infantry Division headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The division was known by its distinctive bright-red and yellow "Thunderbird" shoulder patch. The division had been reactivated in 1941 at the start of America's involvement in World War II. Its previous history included distinguished roles in numerous battles in World War I.

Although most of its members were National Guardsmen from the state of Oklahoma, the 45th Infantry Division also consisted of soldiers from Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona. Many were Native Americans and Hispanics who fought with distinction throughout the entire war. Unlike African-American soldiers, however, most Hispanic and Native-American soldiers were not formed in segregated units. Instead, they were assigned to regular units in every part of the military.


Before Louie joined his unit overseas, elements of the 45th had already participated in the successful Allied campaign to push the Germans out of North Africa.

45th Infantry Division in Italy

In September of 1943, members of the division landed at Anzio and Salerno in Italy and took heavy casualties as they pushed the Germans northward.

With three bloody amphibian landings since the beginning of the war behind them, the 45th Infantry Division was now on its way to its fourth major combat operation of the war.

Louie Arrives to Join the Fight 

The landing of the 45th Infantry Division at St. Maxime in Southern France on August 15, 1944 came almost three-months after D-Day. It was during this period that Louie was thrust into the heavy fighting. As American and British forces pushed the Germans back in numerous battles across France, the 45th made significant advances toward the German border suffering relatively few casualties.

Military planners placed the division on a path that would take them into the dense forests of the Ardennes where they came under the command of Lt. Gen. George S. Patton.  Throughout  the autumn of 1944, soldiers of the 45th Infantry continued their move northward engaging in battles that included the taking of several German-occupied towns.

Battle of the Bulge

The exact details of Uncle Louie's location at this critical point of the war are unknown. However, he

Ardennes Forest

recounted to my father years later that his unit was among the forces that fought back against the final German offensive in the Ardennes Forest in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge.

The battle lasted from December 16, 1944 until January, 16, 1945 in bitter cold and snow conditions that made the fighting almost unbearable for Louie and his fellow soldiers. First-hand accounts from soldiers who survived the battle describe a scene of daily terror as German artillery rained down on American troops dug in between thickets of large trees.

By mid-January, 1945, the German forces were driven back in a decisive victory for the American forces. But the cost to both sides was tragically high. American forces suffered as many as 19,000 dead casualties and 47,500 wounded while German dead numbered nearly 20,000.

Wounded in Action

Soldiers at the Battle of the Bulge

The exact date, time, circumstance and nature of Uncle Louie's war wounds are not fully known. Due largely to the loss of his military records in the 1973 fire, the specifics of how he was wounded may never be known. Although existing military records of wounded soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge do not list Louis's name, family accounts indicate he may have been wounded at one point during the tense fighting in the forest. His military records would have shown details of his wounding but none are available through any military or government resource available to the public.

My father made references to Louie's wounds several times during family conversations in 1950s and 1960s. It is likely that the severity of his wounds may not have been significant enough to warrant long term medical care or evacuation from his combat duties. However, there is enough evidence from family accounts to conclude that Uncle Louie's wounds were received during the Battle of the Bulge.

The Liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp 

As the war continued in the spring of 1945, the 45th Infantry Division scored victory after victory on

Soldiers of the 45th Infantry Division liberate
Dachau Camp on April 29, 1945.

its march toward a final assault on major cities in central and southern Germany. On their way to take the important city of Munich, Louie's 45th Infantry Division was ordered to take a small area to the north of the city that was known to be defended by numerous German units.

Upon their arrival in the area on April 29, 1945, the American troops stumbled upon a shockingly grotesque and unbelievable scene. In a heavily wooded area outside a small town, soldiers of the 45th Infantry Division found a massive compound containing thousands of starving and dead prisoners, mostly Jews and other people considered to be "undesirables" by the Nazi regime.

According to historical accounts, the sight of dead and dying people was too unsettling for even the most battle-hardened members of the 45th. Many of them became physically ill at the sight of dead bodies piled up inside buildings and railroad cars. The few survivors at the camp clung to a fence begging for food and water.

Again, the specifics about Louie's participation in the liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp are not fully known or understood. But the historical record and the archival data from the time and place of the 45th Infantry Division's movements in the area show clearly that Louie was present at the location during this time.

The End of the War

The day after the liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin and the war began to wind down. The soldiers of the 45th Infantry Division continued to conduct mop-up operations around Munich and other cities nearby, purging the area of Nazi criminals and sympathizers.

Brothers 1945

In September of 1945, the 45th Infantry Division was finally allowed to return home arriving in New York City. From there, Uncle Louie - who had recently been promoted to the rank of Tec 5 -  made his way back to Texas and a reunion with his mother Dolores Ortega and his sisters Hortencia, Consuelo, Amparo and Adela. His older Brother Blas lived in Iowa, but his younger brother Salvador (my dad), remained in Germany as a member of the U.S. Army Constabulary. Salvador returned home in 1947.

Louie, like most men who witnessed the horrors of World War II, spoke very little of the events and dangers he

Uncle Louie, right, with Cousin Dee
my dad Salvador and Zulema Ortega.

encountered during the war. Understandably, most soldiers spent the rest of their lives attempting to suppress the awful images that clung to their memories. On a few occasions, Uncle Louie related some of the details of his war experiences to my dad over beers in our backyard on Kendalia Avenue in South San Antonio. But he left no written account of his time in the war.

There is no doubt that the war changed Uncle Louie's life forever. I remember him as a kind, gentle and generous man who never showed a single hint of the trauma he experienced. But as with many men suffering from the effects of such devastating stress, Uncle Louie seemed to carry on without complaint.

 After the war, he lived a quiet, normal life. In the early 1960s, he married Petra and raised a family. He passed away peacefully on November 8, 1987 one day after his 62nd birthday. He is buried at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery not far from his brother Salvador's grave.

Roy Ortega may be reached at rortega54@elp.rr.com. Your comments are always welcome.
Sources and links:
http://svortega.blogspot.com/
https://www.okhistory.org/kids/45th
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-45th-infantry-division
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXnrgaBfSCM