Jose Galindo
By Lisa Cummings
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Nationality Act of 1940 on October 14 of that year, Jose Galindo's life would never be the same. The act allowed Mexican-born residents to be drafted or volunteer for the U.S. Armed Forces.
Earlier that same year he offered to assist the United States Army and was rejected because he was a Mexican citizen.
Galindo received a Certificate of Naturalization, which allowed him to serve in the U.S. Army.
"I wanted to volunteer," Galindo said. "They wouldn't accept me because I was a Mexican citizen."