Antonio G. (Tony) Rodriguez, Jr., was 21 years old, living in Palacios, working at the local brick plant and also doing construction work when Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941.

Born in San Antonio on Jan. 3, 1920 to Antonio and Fidela Garcia Rodriguez, Tony was drafted into the Army on Feb. 18, 1943 at Fort Sam Houston. He was assigned to Company A, 785th Tank Battalion.

He spent most of his Army career stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he drove Army tanks and was qualified as a sharpshooter.

Rodriguez received his honorable discharge as a Private, at Fort Knox on Aug. 27, 1943.

In 1947, while playing with a local band at a dance in Port Lavaca, he met Lupe Alamia. They married the next year.

Tony and Lupe have eight children, Mario Rodriguez of Palacios, assistant lab technician at the South Texas Project; Ismael Rodriguez of Palacios, a general mechanic at Alcoa; Lloyd Rodriguez of Palacios, works for H. E. B.; Tony Pardo, retired and living in Palacios; Irene Lucio, a Palacios homemaker; Veronica Constancio of Blessing, employed by Girling Home Health; Elizabeth Rodriguez of Wharton, manager of a boutique; and Virginia Waters of Houston, a school nurse.

There are also 22 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren in the family.

Tony and Lupe Rodriguez

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