By Melanie Kudzia
"Go to school, and not only that, pay attention!"
This is one bit of advice Ignacio and Antonia Guerrero passed on to their children and grandchildren. They insist on their family attending school, working hard and succeeding.
Mexican Americans didn’t always have the opportunity to be equally educated. In fact, this was the pre-World War II reality for most Latinos in the United States.
By Antonio Gilb
In the first days of the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, in Schmidt, Germany, American scouts reported that a division of German tanks and soldiers lay on the outskirts of town, ready to attack. To minimize casualties, officers hastily ordered the unit to abandon the area. But in their haste, the unit commanders left behind a handful of soldiers. Catarino Hernandez, an 18-year-old from Seguin, was among them.
By Lucinda Guinn
Candelario Hernandez' family moved to East Austin in 1931 from Seguin, Texas. The only time he left East Austin since then, was during World War II, when he served the United States Army in New Guinea.
"I've been in Austin since I got out of the service," he said. "I never went ... nowhere (else)."
Childhood
Hernandez was born on February 2, 1920, in Seguin, Texas. The oldest of eight children - five brothers and one sister -- he often felt pressure from those around him. His only escape was to explore the nearby woods.