"Joe DiMaggio and I were in the reception center together."

Jose G. Sol, Jr.

Jose G. Sol War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Air Forces/Corps Unit: 9th Air Force Service Location: Paris, France; England; St. Petersburg, Florida Rank: Private First Class

As a teenager, Jose Sol emigrated from his native El Salvador to San Francisco. Two years later, the U.S. entered World War II and Sol felt it his duty to register for the draft. When he was called up in December 1942, he got the thrill of his life when he ran into baseball legend Joe DiMaggio in the armed forces reception center. (DiMaggio was out of baseball for three season while he served.) Sol shipped out to England and landed in France shortly after D-Day. He saw his first and last combat action in the Ruhr Valley in February 1945, but before that, he met a very important person, an 18-year-old French girl who would become his wife after the war.