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Subject	Collection	Story	Interviewed by
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... Read More	Violeta Dominguez
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... Read More	Juan Marinez
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... Read More	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,... Read More	William Luna
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... Read More	Nora Frost
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... Read More
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... Read More	Raquel Garza
Joseph F. Velasquez	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... Read More	Liliana Rodriguez
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... Read More	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... Read More	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... Read More	Erika Martinez
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... Read More	Raquel C. Garza
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... Read More	Michael Taylor
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,... Read More	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... Read More	Dulcinea Cuellar
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... Read More	Vincent Pena
Richard Villa Jr.	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... Read More	Vincent Peña
Ramon Sr. Villa	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... Read More	Amanda Abrigo
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... Read More	Amanda Abrigo
Miguel Villa	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. ... Read More	Samantha Salazar
José Luis "Louis" Villalobos Jr.	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... Read More	Liliana Rodriguez
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... Read More	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... Read More	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... Read More	Xochitl Salazar
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... Read More	Juan De la Cruz
Ignacio Vindiola	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... Read More	Michelle Lojewski
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... Read More	Ramón Rodriguez
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... Read More	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... Read More	Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez
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... Read More	Jim Morrison
Paul Ybarra	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... Read More
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... Read More	Shamiso Masowsue
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... Read More	Joseph Villescas
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... Read More	Desirée Mata
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... Read More	Anica Butler
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... Read More	Rene Zambrano
Angel Zavala	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-... Read More	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... Read More	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... Read More	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... Read More	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... Read More	Mr. Paul Rodriguez Zepeda
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... Read More	Elizabeth Blancas
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... Read More	Raul Garcia