José A. Rivera
By Melissa Ayala
A devastating bomb on the other side of the Pacific Ocean and, the war was over for Jose Rivera and the rest of the world.
When the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying that Japanese city, Rivera was stationed in the Galapagos Islands as a driver with U.S. Special Services. It was near the end of his two years of service during World War II.
The youngest of three sons, Rivera was born in Lares, Puerto Rico, in the mountainous western interior of the Caribbean island, on March 1, 1920.