Joe Soto was a Marine deployed to the heavy cruiser New Orleans, which was moored at Pearl Harbor during the attack. Now 91, he tries to salute, but only two fingers on his right
Soto, second from left, puts his arms around the shoulders of fellow Marines during World War ll. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
War memorabilia fills Soto’s room in Rosemead. One item on his wall is the side of a cloth suitcase with all the locations he was deployed written in black marker Bora Bora, Tulagi, Brisbane and New Guinea, to name a few. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
Advertisement
Soto wears his Purple Heart medal, from a head injury, pinned to his Marines shirt. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)