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102-year-old William Sanchez of Monterey Park, CA appears on episode #680 of Hometown Heroes, airing May 8-13, 2021. Sanchez survived more than three years as a prisoner of war after the fall of Corregidor on May 6, 1942.

If you’ve seen the film (or read the book) UNBROKEN, you have an idea of what Mr. Sanchez endured in captivity. He and Louie Zamperini became friends in the Omori Prison Camp during World War II, and Willie and Louie remained in contact until Zamperini’s passing in 2014. Sanchez spoke at one of Zamperini’s memorial services. For more on Louie Zamperini and his legacy, click here to access episode #323 of Hometown Heroes from 2014.

Sanchez attributes his longevity to a series of pivotal moments scattered throughout his nearly 103 years on the planet, beginning with how his relatives stepped into the midst of heartbreak in his youth.

“I was an orphan,” you’ll hear the Texas native say. “I was brought up by an aunt and an uncle. They had kids of their own but they took on three of us.”

That brought Willie west to Huntington Park, CA, where he followed his Golden Gloves champion brother (six years older) into boxing. In addition to his own exploits in the ring, he witnessed many a fight at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. He would ride his bicycle all the way there to make a little money by selling programs for the marquee matches.

He considered himself “more of a boxer than a slugger,” and his reputation in the ring was such that UCLA offered him a boxing scholarship. Instead of navigating Westwood around would-be Bruin contemporaries like Jackie Robinson, Kenny Washington, and Woody Strode, Willie ended up a long, long way from southern California. After some time in the Civilian Conservation Corps, he was inducted into the Army in 1940, and was soon on his way to the Philippines. Corregidor, the fortified island at the entrance to Manila Bay nicknamed “The Rock,” would become his new home.

“December 7th changed everything,” he recalls of the day Imperial Japan attacked the Philippines, just hours after striking Pearl Harbor. “You’re coasting right along, and all of a sudden it’s like an explosion. Things changed fast.”

For the next five months, the island would be under consistent bombardment from Japanese forces, while discouraging developments like MacArthur’s evacuation and the fall of Bataan made the eventual fall of Corregidor seem inevitable. Initially assigned to the 59th Coast Artillery Regiment, he was later transferred to Army Intelligence at Harbor Defense Headquarters inside Corregidor’s Malinta Tunnel. On May 5, 1942, the enemy invasion of the island began. Sanchez was asked to return to his artillery roots and man a gun defending Corregidor. After that position was struck by enemy fire, he drew another arduous assignment.

“We tried to preserve the flag itself,” you’ll hear him say of the large American flag that had flown above his post. “So that it wouldn’t fall into Japanese hands. We took the flag down, and we hid it.”