Joe Blanco, Sr., was born in 1923 in Craig, California, to Heraldo Blanco and Andrea Rojas Blanco. In 1930 they migrated to Nebraska since his father had passed away when Joe was between the ages of 6 and 7. His mother had 9 children.They lived on the farm and labored as crop workers there. It was hard labor since all harvesting was done by hand, and it was part of what made him so tough, hang tuff as they called him. He started going to school at about 7 years old and then, at 10, his parents pulled him out to work in the fields. By 19 he was head of the household, supporting his mother and siblings.
In 1942 he was drafted and served as an ETO in 1943-45.
After only 6 months of training he was sent overseas. Joe served in the United States Army for 4 years as Military Police. In 1943 he wound up in Great Plains, MN and was trained for the invasion of France for 6 months, then shipped out to Europe and ended up in England doing more training for invasion of France.When the invasion started, he fought on the beaches of Normandy, and worked to liberate all of France,pushing the enemy back over the Rhine River into Germany.
