Paul Ramoneda was born on March 14, 1924, in Los Angeles, California. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on June 16, 1943, and completed basic training at NTS San Diego, California, on July 20, 1943. S2c Ramoneda deployed to the Pacific Theater aboard the attack transport ship USS J. Franklin Bell (APA-16) in September 1943, and transferred to the attack transport ship USS Crescent City (APA-21) in October 1943. While aboard USS Crescent City he participated in the Invasion of Bougainville before transferring to Navy Boat Pool 11 and then Navy Boat Repair Unit 158 at Bougainville as a baker in November 1943. S2c Ramoneda transferred to Boat Pool #15 at Papua New Guinea in February 1945, and then returned to the United States in September 1945. He received an honorable discharge from the Navy on December 16, 1945. Sgt Ramoneda enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in early 1949, and served with the 9th Services Squadron at Fairfield-Suisun AFB, California, until he was killed while trying to rescue crew members from the crash of a B-29 Superfortress on August 5, 1950. He was posthumously awarded the Soldier's Medal and the Cheney Award for his heroism. Fairfield-Suisun AFB was renamed Travis AFB for Brig Gen Robert F. Travis, who died in the plane crash, and the Airman Leadership School at Travis AFB was renamed the Sgt. Paul P. Ramoneda Airman Leadership School on September 20, 2000.

His Cheney Award for the Year 1950 reads:

In recognition of his act of valor and extreme courage on 5 August 1950. After a gas and bomb laden B-29 type aircraft had crashed and started to burn very close to his place of duty, Sgt. Ramoneda, with the aid of other members of his Squadron, assisted several of the dazed crew members from the wreckage. When they were advised that bombs and ammunition were aboard the blazing plane, most of the rescuers retired to points of safety, but Sgt. Ramoneda, after remarking to his comrades that he was going to "save those men", threw a cloth over his head and face and ran back into the inferno. He was seen approaching the plane at the moment of the explosion which cost this courageous airman his life. The valor, extreme fortitude, and devotion to his fellow airmen displayed by Sgt. Ramoneda exemplifies the highest traditions of the United States Air Force.