Aniceto R. Gallegos
Biography: Aniceto Rodriguez Gallegos, “Tony”, was born on April 17, 1915, in Mescal, Arizona. He was the son of Dionisio Gallegos and Isabel Rodriguez. At some point after 1935, the family moved to California.
On July 22, 1938, in Casa Grande, AZ, he married the former Lorenza Mendoza who was from Pichcho, AZ. The 1940 U.S. Census shows he completed high school and his Draft Card, dated Oct 16, 1940, inidcates he was working for Russel Griffin, a local farmer in Mendota, CA.
Service Time: Tony was inducted into the service on March 2, 1942, at the Presidio of Monterey, CA. At some point he was assigned to the 6th Tank Destroyer Group as he is listed on 6th’s payroll roster for December 31, 1943.
The 6th had been activated at Camp Hood, Texas, on September 1st, so he could have easily been one of the original members of the unit. The unit moved to Camp Young, CA on January 8, 1943, and participated in Maneuvers at the DTC (Desert Training Center) which covered 18,000 square miles of the Mojave Desert in California, Arizona and Nevada. They then moved to Camp Maxey, TX on July 31st, as part of the Third Army.
The unit was prepared for overseas shipment at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, beginning on January 16, 1944, and shipped from the New York Port of Embarkation on the 29th, aboard the RMS Aquitania. They arrived in England on February 5th, and after assisting to prepare troops for the initial D-Day landings, they finally shipped to France, landing on July 25th. They initially acted as part of Task Force “A” of the VIII Corps of the Third Army, and took part in actions across the Brittany region of France on their way to the town of Brest.
Beginning on September 5th, the unit supported XIII Corps of the Ninth Army, as their Anti-Tank section. They moved into Belgium on October 24th, and then into Holland on November 6th. The 6th then moved into Germany on March 16, 1945, and took part in fast moving operations from the Rhine to the Elbe. The 6th received credit for campaigns in Normady, Northern France, Rhineland and Central Europe.
After the war, the 1950 census shows he was working as a farm hand in San Jose, CA. On December 14, 1970, he married the former Margorie V. Slinger in Alameda City, CA. She was born in Illinois and was the daughter of Byron J. Slinger and Ethel M. Thompson. The couple divorced on January 28, 1983. Tony passed away on January 12, 1999, in Santa Clara, CA.
Notes: My research into Tony didn’t produce much but he had corresponded with my father after the war and I know he had beautiful handwriting. I’m can’t be sure but I believe there was a friendship built in the midst of the war.