Brandon Davies History 1700 Section 26 Professor Hoskisson Response Assignment #3 04/20/14 Question: What were some of the

challenges hispanics faced during World War 2? Who was Hector Garcia? Who was Marcario Garcia? How did they influence Anglo American thoughts on hispanics during and after the war? When people think of discrimination in America, they usually automatically think about the Civil Rights movement concerning African Americans. Although it is true that African Americans did suffer from discrimination in the armed forces, the film we saw in class, Latino Americans: War and Peace, really shed light on what the hispanics had to go through. They were seen as inferior as well and I felt compelled write about this because I am Hispanic myself and I was never aware of Hector Garcia and Marcario Garcia. Their acts of courage and resiliency really touched me as I watched this film. There was a story about a Mexican man named Hector Garcia in the film and it told about his journey through the war. Hector had volunteered to fight versus Japan and had the educational requirements to be a medical doctor for the army. Even though he had attended school both at Creighton University and the University of Texas at Galveston, the white members of the army couldnt trust a hispanic man with his credentials and he couldnt become what he went to school for. So he was discriminated and held at a lower rank all because of his race. After climbing through the ranks he was able to make it to the medical corps where he should have been in the first place; he went on to earn the Bronze Star and six battle stars. He

would then fall in love with Wanda Fusillo in Italy, and then having his first child led him to retire from the armed forces. When Hector moved back to the states with his wife, he went back to the poor town he was from and opened a private medical practice to treat patients, regardless of their ability to pay. Some of the patients were families of World War II veterans that had found themselves back in the barrios dealing with the struggles of living there. He gave back to the community and that made his legacy as a Mexican-American war veteran even more inspiring. In 1945, a Japanese sniper shot and killed the Mexican American private Felix Longoria. His body was returned back to his family in Texas, but when his wife requested to use the funeral chapel in Three Rivers, she was denied because the funeral director said the whites wont like it. Hector Garcia was outraged and stepped in to intervene. He petitioned President Lyndon Johnson for redress of this appalling remark. Felix Longoria went on to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, becoming the first Mexican-American to be buried there. This issue gathered national attention and gave Americans a very vivid look at how the hispanics were being mistreated. The second man who was named Marcario Garcia may very well be one of the most remembered hispanics to ever fight for the United States. After joining the army, he was the squad leader that found itself in combat with German troops in Grosshau, Germany. His squad was not able to move forward because of huge amounts of machine gun fire coming from 2 German nests. Marcario decided to take it upon himself and went alone to destroy the 2 nests. He single-handedly destroyed the two nests with grenades and even had to use his rifle to kill German soldiers. He was able to capture 4 prisoners total, and during this he got injured, but he refused to go behind the front lines and he stayed with his squad until the objective was taken.

This act of heroism led him to be the first Mexican immigrant to ever receive the Medal of Honor, which is the United States highest military decoration. After after this award was handed to him by President Truman, I remember these exact words the movie, and they came from the president. The president said I would rather have one of those than be president. A month after Macario received his Medal of Honor he was refused service at a restaurant because he was hispanic. He was beaten with a bat after becoming belligerent, but still nobody was charged. This caused a huge uproar by the hispanic community and it made the nation aware that even our own war heroes are being discriminated because of their race. I feel that Americans were starting to realize that discrimination among hispanics was wrong, and the numbers speak for themselves because Latinos earned more Medal of Honors than any other ethnic group. Hispanics during the war were already at a disadvantage because of their skin color. Even though they werent black, they were still brown, which still isnt white so they faced discrimination. Hispanic males from the armed forces started a new fashion called the zoot suit, and they were these long suits that became a very popular trend among the hispanic soldiers. Some formed a gang that was known as the pachucos and they wore the zoot suits. I think the gangs made the white sailors believe that anybody in a zoot suit, was part of a gang and they also saw that type of clothing as unpatriotic. They did not appreciate this kind of attire. The sailors grew sick of seeing this and then after the murder of a young mexican male, who was allegedly murdered by members of a pachuco, they began to round up the zoot suiters. The film described it as white sailors riding through the Mexican barrios and getting out of their trucks to assault and capture zoot suiters who were as young as 12. White sailors would take the clothes

off of them and beat them. This was a challenge for the hispanics, because now just by wearing a zoot suit you are guilty, and you will be punished even if you are innocent. In conclusion, although the Hispanics werent the only race to be discriminated, they definitely had it bad and I was very interested in writing about it because I am hispanic myself. Hispanics had to deal with an extensive amount of mistreatment including: Being put into a lower rank in the Army even when you were qualified to be much higher, beaten for wearing a certain type of clothing (zoot suit), getting service refused to you at a restaurant, and being denied funeral services for your husband, who was a war veteran, at your hometown funeral chapel. Hector Garcia was hailed as a hero because of his persistency during his time at war. Even while being targeted, he was able to keep the love for his country and go on to earn multiple prestigious awards for his war efforts. Marcario Garcia was able to single-handedly destroy two machine gun nests, which allowed his unit to capture the enemys territory. Even while being injured, he stayed on the front lines to assure his squad was victorious. He was the first Mexican-American to receive the Medal of Honor award, rightfully so. These two icons in Mexican history were able to show white Americans that people of color, particularly Hispanics, also have a divine love for this country and that they deserve respect.