Valentia: Mexican Americans in World War Two (Revised)

That when Mexican Americans in World War Two is brought to you by viewers like you. Thank you. She's one of America's longest serving and most distinguished fighting ships. Sailing through war and peace for some 47 years. Now she's in retirement as a floating museum here on the waterfront. Welcome aboard the USS Midway. I'm Richard and you may recognize me from roles I played in movies and on TV but the role I'm most proud of is my service onboard the Navy aircraft carrier Yorktown during the Vietnam War. I'm also the proud son of a Navy veteran an Army veteran. I got to. My parents along with thousands of other Mexican Americans answered this country's call during World War Two. These were people often neglected in pre-war America men and women who helped save this country. And in many ways found a better life in post-war

America. This is their story a story of dedication sacrifice patriotism and valor by Mexican Americans in World War 2. I was coming out of church. This church here. When I heard about it. And it didn't actually sink in. Being farm boys were you who where the hook is. Pearl Harbor. Never thought I was too young.

And my father said he's 18. He's a citizen. That's his duty. And I never thought otherwise that I wouldn't go where that I shouldn't go. They were often relegated to Mexican owning neighborhoods schools theaters churches yet hundreds of thousands of Mexican Americans signed up to serve in World War 2. If you look at the statistics you would have to complete that that three hundred seventy five to half a million estimate about 2.6 9 million population that's extraordinarily high. And remember that you also have Mexican-American women serving in the armed forces as well as Mexican nationals. I have friends from Connecticut. I can see California. I felt like I belonged to the families with names like Oreo and red meat has sent all of their signs and even their daughters to join the Army

Navy Marine Corps and the Air Corps. Or do their part here on the home front giving so much. Even their lives for this country. For many the armed forces turned out to be a great equalizer. And she will see gave returning veterans the courage off the battlefield to fight for equal opportunity. I was the only office that I was the only pilot in the whole group who would look at America. The whole group consisted of four squadron. So you think you were after more than 60 years Gilbert Duran or NTA still fits into his flight jacket. When we were two broke out he was an Arizona college student but he temporarily dropped out to join the Army Air Corps. I just went in because I thought that was the best thing for me and for the Army. They needed people who had two years of college and I needed to be in some place of

a calendar a rather than B then carry a rifle across. Germany or wherever the young cadets. Twin engine bomber it was noisy but I'm telling you you know the very first mission I went on there I went and I thought I was a thing going to get it going to get back up. Well I did great. Well discrimination in the armed forces was uncommon. It reared its ugly head on occasion. Like the time Lieutenant or NTA was asked to work with a young man named Ramires. So he reported when he became really that of the other pilot didn't want they didn't want him because he was Hispanic Hispanic or both. Not to be that intelligent. Well and the thinking happened with my crew too. Nobody would take him because his name was daughter.

He was another Air Corps volunteer Joe Hernandez from San Antonio landed in a job not for the faint of heart. As a troop gunner flying bombing missions over Germany and I read about it through and I happened to be enough writer that there would be. One of our planes came right up in front of us and the problem was you know the lid goes over we felt we were about a 20000 to about 14 15000. When you find it a plane. They pilot the copilot finally pulled it up as part of the same day the second Airborne Division has worked on board say forty seven planes that towed gliders across the English Channel during the harrowing D-Day invasion they had 35 lighters and some get out and hit the ground. D-Day June 6 1944 Marquis Elijah invasion of Europe

and John Luna from said it's California it was there when I first found. You know that you were Barry Clark inside of me and I tried to help him or you know how. They see the real heavy and we were all from our taxes went on the bottom and then come up. So but we met and we managed to make it to shore and it was really crowded we couldn't get out. It was we were close in there for several weeks and we were bombarded and I did. And people were dying all around me and all I did was brain follow me around that's all and it was my doing mine and when my turn then I wanted to pay tribute to a different vision stick it for throughout the Americas wars. Edna still betting on Martinez is an artist who honors the armed forces on

canvas during World War 2. His unit liberated the Nazi concentration camp at a courthouse. We were struggling to get there down the gate and from afar was in the barracks with stars in. The little black cloud moving and we almost open up with thought there were soldiers and as they came closer they are getting clear that they were people you know and we thought that it was an insane asylum because none of them were almost completely new. Eventually. I think we liberated in about 5000. Prisoners knife. How did these young soldiers most of whom had never been far from home and family do you with the carnage the danger the loneliness every night there we were in our camper in our foxhole which said my

rosary faith and friendship. Two pillars of strength among G.I. Slike joined on the line from San Antonio. I fed my rosary simply because I asked God to watch over me. And secondly it kept me awake awake in the foxholes he shared with Amos his buddy from Missouri and he is a fine man. Just like a brother to me. Joe had already lost two of his brothers. The name stuck right when the truck and Joe were writing rolled over years when a world to me I prayed got killed and I took it pretty hard because he was we took we looked after each other. Even as the truck rolled over he grabbed me. He grabbed me. Then. Well after the first roll I got

knocked out and I don't remember. But that's where he got killed. It will. Always be I was wrong. It was number 13. And to this day I always believe 13 is a bad number. We never missed a star. Well with Gary when we first met. Our captain's name was John Jay Cross. And. The first thing he told us if you boys are scared to die you don't belong here. Cleanup are generally opens up on south Manila across the piece of river in the Pacific Heights encounter World War Two fiercest and deadliest battles and lead fighting force called the bush masters rose to the

occasion. Legally killed in the name Bush masters in Panama they feel the gripping snakes is a clone of Bush and as we got to name the bush masters were made up largely of Mexican American men recruited from the Arizona National Guard. They trained in the jungles of Panama in preparation for action in the South Pacific. General Douglas MacArthur called them the greatest fighting combat team ever deployed for battle. Reason for time still fresh and raw. After so many years my father was an 18 year old from Sacramento when he went into the Navy and told them in about 5 invasion given given seders back into the from the iron into the ships you're lost out there. We have an agent dark which you can't find your ship because thousands of other big ones are

bombarding that place day and night selves that people just float in the water. That's hard to take. I was thirty five days in the front as a front line doctor was little that I had to try to save some lives. The best I could. And don't you want to know from Austin Texas served as a medic tending to injured Marines and he would seem I think it was the first day we landed we saw the first flag. On Mount Suribachi. There was a group of flag that was planted I with a pipe that they found there with a small flanking you know what would really happen. We thought it was going to be over soon. That's what they told us it was going to be no no problem to take that island. Lo and behold it got rougher and rougher. Toward the end of the war on the island. And now. American soldiers were targets for snipers. But young Gonzales from San Antonio was lucky he found help from Filipino police because he could speak Spanish like a madman officer.

He spoke Spanish and I spokes that you know pretty you know France and. And I told him about our situation. And the first thing he did I say well you don't have to worry. He posted a guard 24 hour guard there to protect us. Other soldiers were not so lucky. They perished about from disease who were taken prisoner. Like a young man named Luce sees NATO's. Of course one of the thing up and ultimately perished in 1943. That's surrounded by his comrades and supported by. His legacy lives on at Fort Bliss in El Paso Texas. Building 10 13 which is the barracks for the 3rd Battalion 6th air defense artillery training barracks for advanced individual training base. Use name recognition of the privates notice contribution and what

worked up. We're. Not only men we're called to roll up their sleeves and we're tired. But women. Mothers wives sisters and daughters. Their work largely confined to the home front and defense factories and civil defense and US airbase. Kelly Field in San Antonio Texas. She spoke both English and Spanish so I was snapped up by the civil defense corps and they agreed. And.

Like many young Mexican-American women. And that didn't stop there. She displayed mechanical action that earned her a good paying job at the local Air Base. And you know you have to work with. I don't embrace the victory gardens to have and I remember the rationing of the food sugar and gasoline in World War 2 everyone pulled together with a sense of pride and shared sacrifice. People who had never picked up a shovel began growing some of their own food in Victory Gardens. They sold war bonds to raise money for military operations. Even children did

their part. Little Rummy does get a little. Who says she was born dancing entertain soldiers in Paso Texas. We were like a Mexican American Bob Hopes we were bring up the morale of our troops. Paso and Fort Myers had the largest military base in the world here in the second world war. People don't remember that but I do and I remember all the soldiers coming downtown and all you could see was nothing but. That and on Saturday night holy buzz would come and pick it up and it was a thrill for us to go dance with them. And here he is with mothers and wives of servicemen did the lion's share of boosting troop morale in Tucson and Phoenix Arizona. The source yes Shoni spent on any kind of a man that is published a newsletter called cheese meat or chatter. They can't Gee I said today the news from home. And they sold by us lots of.

They raised over a million dollars in war but. This wasn't your song and this is one million dollars in 1940s a lot of money for the war for local churches stepped up to the plate. The collection plate raising money for the troops and holding prayer vigils for their safe return in Sacramento California mother name and Draycott and the solar with several sons and a son in law in uniform recruited women to support servicemen from the Central Valley. She started an organization called the Mexican War Mothers. They tended to wounded soldiers in local hospitals send care packages overseas and gave visiting G.I. eyes a welcome taste of home. I remember going with my mother and my grandmother to the USO here in Sacramento and they would actually cook Mexican meals. There at the Mexican I mean you know with both so that the men could have good Mexican food. But the greatest legacy of the Mexican War Mothers Is this a silent sentinel modeled after a soldier.

Diana's Uncle Joe. Standing guard near the Capitol in downtown Sacramento. A Mexican. Told you. That before. Thank you. More than six decades have passed since World War Two ended. And soldiers return. But the bonds forged by these bands of brothers have been impossible to break. And when dealing numbers they gather at reunions dusting off their memories and the mentors. They faithfully attend events at American Legion Post 41 in Phoenix.

Established by Mexican Americans after the war. To combat the hardships the ultimate sacrifice made by these men and women were not in vain. Veterans took advantage of the G.I. Bill to advance their education. They eliminated the so-called poll tax collected at the voting booth. You can pay the poll tax you did vote. And we had a big campaign. Vote yet in both tax. It helped elect the first Hispanic mayor of Apostle Raymond they are emboldened by their brothers in arms Mexican Americans continue to fight for equality in jobs housing and education. Near Houston Mexican-American educators developed a program to teach English to non-english speaking children. It became the model for Head Start. I remember the American G.I. Forum the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the. League of United Latin

American Citizens all successfully promoted Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity. No more Mexican theaters no more support YMCA no more separate sections of the church Mexican section Anglo section in the church. World War 2 and after their service they really did feel like they belong and that Dr. Mackey reversed where the deacons one of seven children of defense worker. And yet the look is really us and someone might have seen Jesus who was stationed in Alaska's Aleutian Islands the biggest legacy of that was that my parents taught us to stand up for ourselves and to save something was not right to not be afraid to say that this isn't right. And and I think that that's the biggest part and I think that comes out of World War 2 because that's the effect that World War 2 had on this generation of Latinos. Dr. Reef is ridiculous. Thank spearheads the efforts to ensure that the contributions of Mexican Americans will not be forgotten. She and her staff at the University of Texas at Austin have interviewed hundreds of World

War Two veterans with key parts of their oral histories published in this book. We have this fantastic photo of these five brothers around their little mother and the captain and all of them in their uniform in their uniforms and I think that's been the amazing thing is just to realize these families gave so much and did so much and you know with us and came out all the better for it. It's the adventure of your life for good or bad. Pete Demus is named for his father a World War Two veteran who spent time in a German camp. His dad stories inspired Pete to produce his own documentary about post 41 felon. Well look I was looking for my gun when I saw mine. See best aerator is one of a dozen Latino soldiers awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor during World War 2. Their heroism recognized in the larger community. Thanks to Richard Martinez with the G.I. farm. He

travels the country with photos and documents celebrating a Latino Medal of Honor recipients. I have done that for quite a while now and I sit back and I watch and I see a lot of people take out their handkerchief in a specially bred trench. The greeter citations you know how could this guy do that you risk your life for his friends and he needs something that we do a lot of the love for not only our friends from the veterans but for our country. World War 2 is a good example of this contribution. The sacrifices that have been made. The struggles that families and countered and dealt with and the struggles that they overcame in spite of the difficulties of racism and segregation. Beyond that is the larger story of. Americanism. That

Americans are ALL OF US and Mexican Americans are also Americans and I think sometimes that is something that is forgotten. Let me get this straight. I'm an American and proud of it and by the grace of God it Texan. From Sunday early so I don't listen to that garbage. It doesn't affect me it doesn't bother me because I'm an American. We earned it. It's. Now at last century. Their fallen comrades are being honored for all they've given. And continue to give to all of us. We got them free because of them. Our nation lives. A nation's gratitude expressed in both public and private ways across the generations. This is a little essay that my little grandson Michael Thomas

Murphy wrote. My grandpa is a broad American who served his country bravery is an American hero because he was in World War 2. There's an air force pilot who was one of the only makes American pilots in the war in this nation didn't land them first so it's just amazing to me to me so I know we're going to hell it's sad but you know it's true. A proud of what the kids did. I know my dad was. My dad was he was a man. He thanked me thanked me. Thank goodness.

My parents were typical of that generation. They return from war quietly got on with their lives. Working and raising families asking only for equal treatment in return. For me as a Mexican-American I know that without my parents service and the sacrifices of all the other Mexican Americans during World War 2 my life and yes your life would not be what it is today. Thanks for watching. I'm Richard and I guess to find out more about Mexican-Americans in World War 2 visit our Web site at KVOA dot org slash Valentijn to order a copy of this broadcast. Visit us online or call 1 8 8 8 8 1 4 3 9 2 3. The cost is fourteen ninety five plus shipping. Valens Mexican-Americans in World War 2 was brought to you

by viewers like you. Thank you.