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Raymond Vega

Raymond Vega  

World War II

By Israel Saenz

At the Vega home in East Chicago, Ind., during World War II, there were five blue stars in the window -- one for each of the sons serving in the military. Raymond Vega was one of them, serving aboard a ship as a hospital...

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Violeta Dominguez

Francisco Vega

Francisco Vega  

World War II

By Michelle Witters

San Antonio native Francisco Vega survived D-Day on Omaha Beach unscathed. That’s not to say he didn’t suffer acute pain later during the war, however.

When Sergeant Major Vega went to see the medic in Bad...

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Juan Marinez

Lauro Vega

Lauro Vega  

World War II

By Miguel A. Castro

Lauro Vega distinctly remembers being in England and anxiously waiting to receive orders from the 197th AAA Battalion, the company he was in.

"They told us, 'All you fellows will be in an invasion but we don't...

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Rene Zambrano

Martin Vega

 

World War II

By Natalie England

Martin Vega knows what discrimination is. He saw it in his everyday life.

He even saw that everyday discrimination culminate in murder.

Vega was born in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. His family immigrated to Taylor,...

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William Luna

Abel Vela

Abel Vela  

World War II

By Valerie Harris

Most people hope to retire around age 65, but hard-working Abel Vela stayed busy well into his 70s.

After 27 years in the Army and more than 30 years of owning and operating a number of McDonald’s franchises...

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Nora Frost

Angela A. Vela

Angela A. Vela  

World War II

By Veronica Rosalez

Growing up in Austria, Angela Vela had a front-row seat to the effects Hitler and World War II had on Europe. But in a time when fear and turmoil plagued the country, Vela was fortunate enough to find something very...

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Gerard Roland Vela

Gerard Roland Vela  

World War II

By Araceli Jaime and Jasmin Sun

G. Roland Vela was an 11-year-old delivering newspapers when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Suddenly, everyone wanted to learn more about the bombing, and they swarmed Vela as he rode along...

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Raquel Garza

Joseph F. Velasquez

Joseph Vasquez - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By Kristina Beverly, Cal State Fullerton

When Joseph Velasquez joined the U.S. Navy on April 23, 1968, he received a card that asked where he would want to go if he were deployed.

He could have picked anywhere, but he wanted to be...

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Liliana Rodriguez

Celeste Velazco

Celeste Velazco  

Voces of a Pandemic

By: Voces Staff

Celeste Velazco, born and raised in Venezuela, is an advertising and political science student at the University of Florida. Her student life consisted of working three jobs, being a full-time student, and hanging out with...

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Jackie Pedota

Angel Antonio Velazquez

 

World War II

By Ernie Garrido

Before he joined the Army in World War II, Angel Antonio Velázquez taught English at a junior high school in his hometown of Yabucoa, in the southeastern part of Puerto Rico. During the war, in the Panama Canal, his...

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Doralis Perez-Soto

Francisco Venegas

 

World War II

By Erika Rodriguez

Francisco Venegas sits in the kitchen of his house in southeast Austin. That act alone makes him feel lucky.

Venegas has worked and struggled his whole life to be able to relax in his own home at the...

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Erika Martinez

Manuel Vera

Manuel Vera  

World War II

By Eric Latcham

On Jan. 27, 1945, in freezing, blizzard-like conditions,, Sgt. Manuel Vera was wounded in action in Nennig, Germany, when an explosion sent shell fragments into his right leg.

Having grown up in Nebraska during the...

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Raquel C. Garza

Edelmiro T. Vidaurri

Edelmiro T. Vidaurri  

World War II

By Michael Taylor

During the span of a 27-year military career, Edelmiro Vidaurri has worked on the aircraft used to fight three wars. In the course of those conflicts, he saw change both in the technology of aircraft and the attitudes of...

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Michael Taylor

Martha Ortega Vidaurri

Martha Ortega Vidaurri  

World War II

By Tammi Grais

Martha Ortega Vidaurri learned at a young age the hardships that life could serve up: During World War II, all five of her brothers and her husband would serve in the country's defense.

Her brothers; Samuel, Daniel,...

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Tammi Grais

Willie Vila

 

World War II

By Lindsay Stafford

For Marine sniper Willie Vila, the only way to make it through World War II alive was to kill or be killed.

Vila used this advice, which he recalls getting from Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller, to...

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Dulcinea Cuellar

Elizabeth Villa

Elizabeth Villa  

Voces of a Pandemic

By: Voces Staff

Elizabeth Villa is a 51-year-old kindergarten teacher and mother of six. She has five sons and one daughter and is also a grandmother to two girls. She has been teaching for 20 years and has lived all over the...

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Vincent Pena

Richard Villa Jr.

RichardVillaJr.  

Voces of a Pandemic

By: Voces Staff

Richard Villa is a 27-year old licensed investment broker born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. He is planning a carrer change into law and ultimately wants to be able to prosecute injustice, especially injustice at the...

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Vincent Peña

Ramon Sr. Villa

Ramón Villa at the AT&T Executive and Conference Center, University of Texas at Austin on Saturday, October 3, 2009.(Photo: Marc Hamel)  

World War II

By Frank Trejo

Having grown up in rural South Texas during the Great Depression and having lost his mother when he was only 10, Ramón Villa Sr. knew hardship.

But he was unprepared for the struggles he faced in World War II as...

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Amanda Abrigo

Joe Villa

Joe Villa  

World War II

By Ashley Hord

As an Army veteran, Joe Villa has experienced his ups and down throughout life. From coming close to death as a baby to venturing through Nazi territory, the 83-year old has seen more than what his small Texas town ever...

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Amanda Abrigo

Miguel Villa

Mike Villa was interviewed in Hallettsville, TX on July 20, 2010 by the Voces Oral History Project. [Michelle J Lojewski/Voces Oral History Project]  

World War II

By Veronica Rosalez

With the many hardships that their family faced throughout World War II, military veterans Mike Villa and his brothers, Raymond and Joe, were grateful that they all returned home safely to the United States.

...

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Samantha Salazar

José Luis "Louis" Villalobos Jr.

José Luis "Louis" Villalobos Jr. - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By the Voces Staff

Louis Villalobos Jr., a senior in high school, weighed his options. He didn't have the money to go to college. He could wait to be drafted to serve in the Vietnam War, or he could enlist and hope to be assigned somewhere...

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Liliana Rodriguez

Gonzalo Villanueva

Gonzalo Villanueva  

World War II

By Doralís Perez-Soto

The only time Gonzalo Villanueva has been away for any extended period from his neighborhood in Arecibo, Puerto, Rico, was during World War II, when he served in North Africa, France, Italy and Germany. He even jokes...

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Doralis Perez-Soto

Patricia Villareal

 

Political & Civic Engagement

June 5, 1975, was a red-letter day for Patricia Villareal, a San Antonio native and a staff member of the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the House Judiciary Committee. That was the day the bill extending the Voting Rights Act...

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Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Raul Cantu Villarreal

 

World War II

By Robert Inks

When Raul Cantú Villarreal came home to Brownsville, Texas, in 1949 after serving in World War II, he had adjustments to make.

For one thing, Villarreal lost his right leg after stepping on a land mine.

"I thanked...

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Xochitl Salazar

Oscar Villarreal

Oscar Villarreal  

World War II

By Rachel Howell

At 16, Oscar Villarreal was too young to vote in 1943, but he wasn’t too young to serve his country in World War II by joining the Navy.

Villarreal was born March 1, 1927. In order to join the National Youth...

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Juan De la Cruz

Ignacio Vindiola

Ignacio Vindiola - Voces Oral History Project  

World War II

By Jessica Goetz, St. Bonaventure University

Ignacio Vindiola was 27 years old when he joined the Army Air Forces and was assigned the job of radio operator aboard bomber planes. He was old enough to understand that those bombs being...

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Michelle Lojewski

Jasmine Virola

Jasmine Virola  

Voces of a Pandemic

By: Voces Staff

Jasmine lives in New York City and is employed in the emergency department of a Hospital. She and her husband both contracted COVID-19 in March, and while Jasmine recovered quickly, her husband Freddie...

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Ramón Rodriguez

Frederick Ted Von Ende

Frederick Ted Von Ende  

Political & Civic Engagement

By: Voces Staff

In 1987, Frederick von Ende was a professor at Pan American University in South Texas. He was tapped by a group of University Presidents in South Texas to write a report highlighting educational disparities between North...

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Hwa Jin (Jina) Chung

William Raymond Wood

 

World War II

By Rosa Imelda Flores

William Wood was "born in space," his reference to the little mining town of Santa Rita, which was in the hilly terrain of southwestern New Mexico.

Santa Rita was excavated for the valuable copper ore lying...

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Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Vicente Ximenes

Vicente Ximenes  

World War II

By Erika Martinez

Vicente Ximenes still recalls his days as a Mexican American boy growing up in the 1930s in Floresville, Texas, a town where segregation formed part of his everyday life.

Ximenes also remembers that out of the 100...

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Jim Morrison

Paul Ybarra

Paul Ybarra, 2010. (Photo By: Marc Hamel)  

World War II

By Claire Gordon

Paul Ybarra does not see himself as a hero, even though he survived the bloody Normandy Invasion and a mistaken Allied bombing, and he was about to be deployed to the Pacific when World War II ended. All he did, in his...

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Andres Ybarra

 

World War II

By Jennifer Lindgren

"That's a picture of my great-granddaughter," said 81-year-old veteran Andres Ybarra, admiringly pointing out photographs in his home. "That's a picture of my -- all my grandkids and myself over there. And that one over...

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Shamiso Masowsue

Frank Yturralde

Frank Yturralde  

World War II

By Rachel Fleischman

Frank Yturralde’s life is interwoven with the threads of family and education.

At times they clashed, at times they co-existed, but mostly they were symbiotic -- family feeding education, education feeding...

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Joseph Villescas

Esequiel Zamudio

Esequiel Zamudio  

World War II

By Desirée Mata

By the time Esequiel Zamudio was drafted at age 21, he already knew hard work and hardship.

Zamudio started working as a young man for a government project called the National Youth Administration. As part of the NYA...

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Desirée Mata

Jose Robert Zaragoza

Jose Robert Zaragoza  

World War II

When Jose R. Zaragoza returned from World War II, he found an invigorated Los Angeles ripe with opportunities for younger generations of Latinos.

Zaragoza was born in Los Angeles, Calif. in 1920. His parents had emigrated with his two...

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Anica Butler

Domingo Zatarian

Domingo Zatarian  

World War II

By Donetta Nagle

Domingo Zatarian looked on a map and set out to find his brother's division shortly after the Battle of the Bulge had ended in Europe.

And he found him. There was Marty in a ditch, doing the last thing Zatarian would...

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Rene Zambrano

Angel Zavala

Angel Zavala - Voces Oral History Project  

World War II

By Andie Salazar

Between April 1944 and December 1945, Angel Zavala experienced everything from seeing the architecture of England and the islands of the South Pacific to nightly bombings and a searing sun at sea.

What was a 22-...

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Daniel Reyes

Neftali L. Zendejas

 

Korean Conflict, Vietnam

By Layne Victoria Lynch

As 80-year-old Neftali L. Zendejas looked back on the memories of his childhood before his service in both the Korean and Vietnam wars, he reminisced about how he knew he wanted to work with aircrafts at an early...

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Raquel C. Garza

Isaac R. Zepeda

 

World War II

By Paul R. Zepeda and Maggie Rivas Rodriguez

Four stars hung in the front window of the house of 1608 Ave. L in Bay City, Texas, during WWII. Each represented a son of Guadalupe Zepeda, who fled from San Luis Potosí¬, Mexico, because he...

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Mr. Paul Rodriguez Zepeda

Elias R. Zepeda

 

World War II

By Paul R. Zepeda and Maggie Rivas Rodriguez

Four stars hung in the front window of the house of 1608 Ave. L in Bay City, Texas, during WWII. Each represented a son of Guadalupe Zepeda, who fled from San Luis Potosí¬, Mexico, because he...

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Mr. Paul Rodriguez Zepeda

Robert Zepeda

 

World War II

By Paul R. Zepeda and Maggie Rivas Rodriguez

Four stars hung in the front window of the house of 1608 Ave. L in Bay City, Texas, during WWII. Each represented a son of Guadalupe Zepeda, who fled from San Luis Potosí¬, Mexico, because he...

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Mr. Paul Rodriguez Zepeda

William Zermeno

William Zermeno  

World War II

By Yiyi Jennifer Yang

It took a war for William Zermeno to leave his hometown, Houston, and his beloved family. The Zermeno family shared a very close bond -- the brothers, particularly, would play and hang out together even as they grew...

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Elizabeth Blancas

Alejandra Rojas Zuniga

Alejandra Rojas Zuniga  

World War II

By Stephanie Babb

Strong family ties and a good work ethic made the difficulties of World War II a learning experience, Alejandra Rojas Zuniga said.

"It was rough for us attending school in Texas because discrimination was bad there...

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Raul Garcia