United States. A Purple Heart To Faustino Muniz Corrales, 612Th Tank Destroyer Battalion, Pow In Germany

Footnote: Faustino Muniz Corrales was born on May 25, 1925 in Colorado, the son of Jose Corrales and Ricarda Corrales (nee Muniz), both of his parents originally from Mexico, the family later moving to Mitchell, Nebraska. He was a resident of Scottsbluff, Nebraska when he enlisted as a Private (37357853) with the United States Army at Gering, Nebraska, on September 7, 1943, at the age of 18, naming his next-of-kin as his father, Jose Corrales and stating that he was Single. He was later promoted to the rank of Private First Class and served with the 612th Tank Destroyer Battalion in the European theater. Corrales was reported as having been taken as a Prisoner of War on December 17, 1944. He was incarcerated at Stalag XIIIC Hammelburg am Main, Bavaria 50-10, Germany. Life at Stalag XIIIC became grim as the war neared its end, as the Germans were running out of food and fuel, having difficulty getting supplies for the prisoners. Corrales was liberated by American forces in early April 1945 and soon returned to the United States, where he was admitted to AGSF Redist Station in Hot Springs, Arkansas. During his medical examination, he was diagnosed as suffering from an ingrown toenail on his right big toe, the cause of which was "undetermined". An excision of the medial and lateral side of the nail and nail bed was performed on June 15, 1945, with Corrales being designated "Class III Reconditioning". Private First Class Faustino Muniz Corrales was Honorably Discharged on November 3, 1945 at the Separation Center in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. After the war, he married Piedad L. Corrales, was a resident of Pasadena, California and worked as a Shoemaker with Bowen Manufacturing Inc.. Corrales was admitted to Fresno Community Hospital in Fresno, California on August 22, 1965, where he was diagnosed with a case of acute hemorrhagic pancreatic necrosis. He died in hospital three days later, on August 25, 1965, at the age of 40 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, his grave marker inscribed "FAUSTINO M CORRALES / CALIFORNIA / PFC 612 TD BN / WORLD WAR II / MAY 23 1925  AUG 25 1965".