Teodoro Pena came north with the 7th Infantry Division to wrest Attu back from the Japanese. A very young medic, Teodoro couldn’t possibly have known the horror the Army had sent him into.
In 1942, Teodoro left his job with the CCC and enlisted at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. He trained as a medic. And in 1943 he travelled north—a long way north—to the williwaws and the fog and the bitter cold of the Aleutians.
On May 11 he struggled through the icy surf into one of the nastiest battles of the Pacific War. Pena advanced up the valley with the rest of the 7th, lived through the bitter Banzai attack that killed so many of his fellows, struggling hand to hand and chest to chest until the Japanese gave up and began blowing themselves up with grenades.
A few days ago I posted a story I called “Castner’s Cutthroats” about the invasion of Attu. Teodoro’s grandson, Jonathan Kiner, responded to tell me about his Grandpa.
From the Aleutians Teodoro returned to Fort Lewis, Washington, scored a two weeks leave and boarded a train home to Texas with some of his buddies. When the train developed mechanical problems and had to stop for a while, a 1st sergeant gave them permission to visit a nearby town. They ran to town, loaded up on beer and whisky and ran back to the train—just in time.
Teodoro made it home to Robstown, Texas. But three days later he sat in a darkened theatre enjoying a movie with his future wife (and Jonathan’s future grandmother) when the lights came on and the local sheriff came down the aisle to find him. A telegram from Fort Lewis to the sheriff’s office summoned Teodoro to return immediately.
Next stop, Europe.
When Jonathan Kiner enlisted in the Army—he served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005—Grandpa Teodoro attended his graduation from basic training. Teodoro pinned on his grandson’s blue infantry cord, and together Teodoro and Jonathan raised the POW flag.
The Sergeant Major gave a speech about Teodoro and his heroism.
There’s only one possible ending for this story…
Thank you, Teodoro and Johnathan, from the bottom of our hearts, for your service.