“I used to watch [the planes] take off and come in. I saw a lot of planes come in all shot up. One came in and landed on one wheel. Some of them just belly landed.”

Joe Robert Dominguez

Joe Dominguez War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Navy Unit: USS Saratoga Service Location: Pacific Theater Rank: Seaman First Class Place of Birth: TX

Working in a grocery store in Fort Davis, Texas, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, 16-year-old Joe Dominguez determined to enter the military on his upcoming birthday. Soon after, the Navy Seaman First Class was watching fighter pilots land on the U.S.S. Saratoga. He credits his time in the Navy with instilling an early sense of civic responsibility. Forty years later, the experience inspired him to serve two terms as county commissioner near his hometown.