*IN MEMORIAM*

Joe Rivas passed away June 22, 2017. Read his obituary at dignitymemorial.com.

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Joe Rivas of Fresno, CA shares his World War II memories on episode #88 of Hometown Heroes, airing September 5, 2009. Joe served with the 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, and later with 414th Infantry Regiment of 104th Infantry Division.

He was with the “Timberwolves” of the 104th when they discovered an infamous concentration camp in Nordhausen, Germany. He still has the large Nazi banner he took from a building there. On the banner are the decades-old signatures of his fellow soldiers who were at Nordhausen with him.