What is an Ohio prosecutor doing dressed as a Tercios discipline marshal parading in Madrid | Culture | EUROtoday

Forrest Gump and José A. Torres Ramírez (60 years outdated), prosecutor of Ohio (USA), notice that life is sort of a field of candies. When Torres was seven or eight years outdated, he talked for hours and hours together with his great-grandfather in his native Puerto Rico, asking him concerning the household’s origins. This is how he discovered that they got here from Uclés (Cuenca) and that an ancestor, the sergeant main of the Tercios García de Torres, died preventing the Dutch in an assault on the Caribbean island in 1625. A number of weeks in the past, Gilles Prilaux, head of the archaeological service of the division of Somme (France), wrote him an e-mail through which he introduced that that they had found the identify of his ancestor within the citadel of Doullens. engraved on a wall. Coincidentally, Torres’ nice pastime is historic recreation. He has simply completed the armor, with gold filigree, of a discipline marshal of the Tercios and two weeks in the past he paraded it round Madrid.

His research – he has a level in Law and Political Science – ended up propelling his profession to Ohio, the place he works as a prosecutor and advisor to the governor. But his nice pastime is the historic reenactment of battles, a dream that has been fulfilled in quite a few cities within the United States and Europe. He collaborates with numerous leisure associations, corresponding to Caballeros de Urrea, 3eme Cuirassiers, Brigade Napoleon, Jane Austen Society, Regimiento Fijo de Puerto Rico or the Spanish Asociación 31 Enero Tercios.

He has just lately reproduced the armor and helmet of a Spanish discipline marshal, an outfit that he wore on January 31 in Madrid at a festive occasion within the middle of town. “These armors are distinguished by luxury and color. You just have to look at the paintings of the Duke of Alba or Farnese. They were armor that was generally made in Milan or Pisa. I am proud to say that I managed to recreate that work using the same techniques. The only difference has been in inlaying the gold. Before it was done with mercury, but to avoid risks, I plated it with electricity,” he says.

Torres appears for areas in his intense skilled profession to pursue his nice pastime. He has been liable for Ohio’s prison laws and laws, drafting the invoice that improved procedures for interrogating suspects in police custody and growing the process to facilitate the innocence of a defendant by DNA testing. He has granted greater than 3,000 pardon and parole hearings, 21 of them for these sentenced to loss of life. It has additionally carried out an intensive investigation into corrupt police networks.

“When I go to reenact, I leave aside homicides and robberies. I pack my bags and forget about all that. Now, having experience as a prosecutor and acting before a jury helps me present a role convincingly to the public that attends the reenactments. For me, historical reenactment helps us understand what our ancestors truly experienced, to learn what life was like in those times. It’s one thing to read about the clash of pikes and another is to be in the middle of it. fight. It is special to be able to visit the Plaza de la Villa in Madrid and take photos of the statue of [Álvaro de] Bazán and the old City Hall, but it is not comparable to seeing that same square full of life, in the style of Velázquez’s times,” he says with a mushy Puerto Rican accent.

Last yr, Torres printed a few of his images dressed as a Tercios soldier on his social media account. Shortly after, he acquired a message from these liable for the archaeological service of the French division of Somme, very near historic Flanders. It reads: “We are a team studying the citadel of Doullens, made up of archaeologists, historians, cartographers and drone pilots. We have found the inscription ‘Towers’ in an underground gallery. Could you help us in the campaign to promote our heritage?”

García de Torres was born in 1563 in Uclés. He enlisted within the King’s military in 1579 on the age of 16, the place he served for 46. He was underneath the command of Agustín Mexia in Flanders within the Tercio Zambapalos. He launched into the Great Armada on the galleon Saint Bartholomew, underneath the command of Ensign Gerónimo de Monroy. He reached the rank of sergeant main. He participated within the battle of the Azores with the Marquis of Santa Cruz, within the protection of A Coruña from the pirate Francis Drake and was wounded by a bullet throughout the taking of Le Catelet, in Doullens, in 1595, the place the inscription has been discovered. He fought at Cambrai (1595), Calais (1596) and The Ardennes (1596). He was rewarded with 18 scudi and advisable for the rank of captain.

On August 7, 1602 he arrived in Puerto Rico. In 1607, he captured an English ship with its complete crew. In 1625, the Dutch fleet of Boudewijn Hendricksz attacked the island. García de Torres fortified the Puntilla space with 120 troopers. “In defense of this position we will fight to the last man as loyal subjects, and I swear to you that I will be the first to fall.” He was shot within the chest and died seven days in a while October 5, 1625.

This story, which is broadly documented with writings of the time, led José A. Torres to change into fascinated by the household previous. And beginning in 1998, he started a profession of historic recreation that has taken him to A Coruña, Ferrol, Medina de Rioseco, Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Waterloo, Austerlitz, Grolle… and two weeks in the past to Madrid, amongst different locations. “But my favorite events have been Waterloo 2015 in its bicentennial, where we recreated the great battle before 70,000 people; Grolle, in Holland, where I joined my pike to the Spanish troops, and Yecla [Murcia]where I met for the first time many reenactors who today I consider very friends.”

Are you going to Doullens to see your ancestor’s inscription? “Do you doubt it?”