PROFILE OF A MUSEUM VOLUNTEER
CARLOS LOPEZ

Carlos Lopez was born October 8th, 1928 in Phoenix, Arizona and moved to Fresno, California in 1936 where he attended Thomas A. Edison High School. When Carlos enlisted in the Marines, five of his friends were to join with him, but he was the only one to show up. His mother had to sign to get him in the Marines, as he was only 17 years old. Carlos was sent to the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot and Camp Pendelton for basic training and to learn to fire weapons. Carlos was sent to Korea in 1950, stopping at Port Kobe, Japan. When he arrived there, three large ships were unloading war material on the crowded Port Kobe docks and men were working everywhere. Carlos was impressed with the stock, equipment and manpower of the United States military. His impressions were soon erased when monsoon rains hit the area and the docks were flooded over with water and all the military equipment was lost to the sea.

In 1950 while in Korea, Carlos was involved with the capture and securing of Seoul from September 25th to October 7^th, and with the Wonson-Hungnam-Chosin, North Korea campaign from October 28th to December 11th. He was then assigned to operations against the North Korean enemy forces in South and Central Korea from December 15th, 1950 until June 10th, 1951. He served in the United States Marine Corps from September 1946 to September 1948 and in the USMC Reserves from July 1950 to September 1951. His rating was Sergeant, MO Postal Clerk 0161. Unfortunately, he didn’t put in a request for the ribbons he was entitled to receive for his service in Korea.

Carlos received an AA degree in 1956 and went on to receive a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminology at Fresno State College in 1959. Sergeant Lopez worked for the Fresno City Police Department for ten years. The Department of State in 1961 recruited him into Federal Service, where he worked with the National Police Forces in several countries in Central and South America. While working in Nicaragua, an earthquake struck on December 23, 1972 in Managua, and his program priorities were altered. The Host Government requested and received approval from the United States Authorities to select two men from the program to remain behind and work in the reconstruction of the destroyed Police buildings, setup training programs, and specifically improve their Police services. The Host Government made arrangements and paid the expenses for the two men. The highest Civilian Medal was awarded to the two Americans (Carlos of course, and his partner Call) for their outstanding work on behalf of the Nicaraguans.

Carlos married his high school sweetheart Bonnie, on October 15, 1949. They had two girls, Diana, a Lieutenant with the California State Department of Corrections, Carla, a Medical Records Administrator and one son Conrad, who is serving with the California Highway Patrol. Carlos took an early retirement with the Federal Service in 1981. He stays busy, to supplement his early retirement, with rental properties and lives on a five acre ranch south of Fresno. Since 1996, Carlos has volunteered at the Legion of Valor Museum as an Assistant Curator to Ray Lee and enjoys his position very much.