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World War II

Stories with interview subjects from our World War II collection. Browse all stories to see subjects across all Voces collections.

Displaying 451 - 500 of 649

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Subject	Collection	Story	Interviewed by
Maria Cristina Parra	World War II	By Adrienne Lee Maria Cristina [Pozos] Parra knows few details about World War II outside the stories her husband, Ambrosio Parra, chose to tell her, and a wound on his foot that left him in pain for the rest of his life. As she put it: “... Read More	Elvia O. Perez
Xavier Pelaez	World War II	By Gina Ross World War II gave Xavier Pelaez many gruesome experiences -- from witnessing the horror of a concentration camp to the pain of being wounded in battle. Pelaez was born in Los Angeles in 1925, his parents having moved from... Read More	Luis Torres
Carlos Pena	World War II	By Melissa Watkins Carlos Peña's mother, Natividad, used to say the only time Anglos came around their little farm near San Benito, Texas, was when they needed another... Read More	Rick Leal
Placido Peña	World War II	By Hasive Gomez Cleaning land mines and building bridges in front of enemy lines leaves little room for luck. Yet former combat engineer Placido Peña says luck is one of the reasons he survived the war under hazardous conditions. ... Read More	Cristina Salinas
Delphino M. Peña	World War II	By Veronica Franco On his 20th birthday, Delphino Peña was drafted into World War II as a soldier fighting for both his country and his life in the Philippines against the Japanese. After capturing Leyte and Samoa through intense... Read More	Paul Zepeda
Eduardo Peniche	World War II	By Fernando Dovalina Even though he stands only five feet five, Ed Peniche must be one of the tallest men in the world. Every time this son of Mexico has been challenged in life, he has measured up – and then some. He measured up as... Read More	Fernando Dovalina
Manuel P. Perez	World War II	By Jared Hill Manuel Perez was one of the hundreds of thousands of Latino citizens forced by way of selective service to join the military after the United States joined World War II following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. And just like many... Read More	Raquel C. Garza
Manuel Sierra Pérez	World War II	By Brenda Menchaca Manuel Sierra Pérez sits on a chair at a desk cluttered with photographs of his children at a young age and a University of Texas coffee mug, among other items. “I have everything on the desk. I don’t even have to... Read More
Pedro Perez	World War II	By Suzanne Hanshaw It was the afternoon of April 30, 1945, on the Philippine island of Luzon. The first scout of the attacking squad had been shot and Pedro Perez volunteered to rescue him in a hail of machine-gun fire. Even after Perez... Read More	Robert Hernandez
Ester Arredondo Perez	World War II	By Whitney Mizer Eighty-two-year-old San Antonio resident Ester Arredondo Perez always worked hard to accomplish her goals, whether they were traveling the world or becoming the first Latino high school graduate in Fort Bend County, Texas... Read More	Erika Martinez
Manuel Perez, Jr.	World War II	Twenty-two-year-old Manuel Pérez, Jr. was killed in action on March 14, 1945, on the road to Santo Tomas in Southern Luzon in the Philippine Islands. Private First Class Pérez served as a paratrooper in the 11th Air Borne Infantry Division... Read More
Carmen Romero Phillips	World War II	By Rachel Howell In late December, 1943, the United States had been fighting in World War II for more than two years, but for one Tucson nurse, the war was a brand new experience: that's when Carmen Romero, now Phillips, joined the Army... Read More	Delia Esparza
Miguel Pineda	World War II	By Sandra Ibarra Miguel Pineda recalls Gen. Douglas MacArthur trying to inspire him and the other inexperienced soldiers upon their arrival in Brisbane, Australia. Pineda, 21 at the time, remembers MacArthur saying: "You kill him or he'll... Read More	Sandra Ibarra
Albino Pineda	World War II	By Claire Carroll “Pinda!” a corporal yelled. The young Mexican American soldier stood quietly in line. He did not address the corporal or any of his peers. “Pinda!” the corporal bellowed out once more. The young soldier... Read More	Laura Barberena
Concepcion Pompa	World War II	By Mark Lavergne Donning a green flight jacket and a black hat emblazoned in gold capital letters with the words "Purple Heart," 78-year-old Concepción Pompa looks like a retired man able to indulge in his memories. But that relaxed... Read More	Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez
Raul Portales	World War II	By Jordan D. Schraeder Working at Dodson’s Grocery in 1943, Raul “Roy” Portales dreamed of sailing the high seas. That year, the San Antonio native found a way to make that dream a reality: enlistment in the U.S. Navy. After... Read More	Patricia Portales
Emilio Portales	World War II	By Trent Lesikar “All those bullets and none of them had my name on it,” Emilio Portales said with a laugh. Portales saw action on the front lines of U.S. Army campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, France and Germany during World War II. He... Read More
Edward Lopez Prado	World War II	By Ruben Ali Flores The bombing was over, the beach secured. Edward Lopez Prado watched as the waves rolled over the body of a fallen soldier. It was Sept. 15, 1943, the day after the Salerno invasion on Italy. Salerno was... Read More	Ruben Ali Flores
Pedro Prado	World War II	By Gabriel A. Manzano, Jr. Pete Prado recognizes the brutality and inhumanity of war. But he also knows that because of his experiences during World War II and because of the GI benefits that resulted, his life and the lives of his three... Read More	Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez
Juan Provencio	World War II	By Alex Cannon When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Juan Provencio knew what he had to do. As the war overseas had worsened, his father, Manuel, an immigrant from Mexico, had told his sons: "... Read More	Robert Rivas
Manuel Provencio	World War II	By Cheryl Smith Much like the proverbial elder who trudged long distances to school in the snow, wind and rain, Manuel Provencio trekked a couple of miles a day from school to his uncle Juan Galceran's shoe repair shop, where he pulled in a... Read More	Robert Rivas
Bernarda Lazcano Quintana	World War II	By Yazmin Lazcano As a young girl, Bernarda Quintana and her brothers and sister carried heavy buckets of water to their father, who mixed straw and adobe to create their home in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. When Quintana was 12, her father was... Read More
Carlos Carrillo Quintana	World War II	By Yazmin Lazcano There was once a possibility that Carlos Quintana would never be able to tell his own story. Wounds suffered in battle on the Pacific island of Saipan during World War II left him hardly able to speak or eat properly for... Read More	Rene Zambrano
Fortino S Quintana	World War II	Fortino S. Quintana's dream was to be a pilot for the Air Force. Quintana's dream was never realized, however, due to ear problems later attributed to a tumor. Since he couldn't fly, he did the next best thing: repairing and maintained... Read More
Ernest Quiroga	World War II	By Melissa Drosjack As an Army entertainer, Ernie Quiroga had a very special audience during World War II – people liberated from concentration camps. "I entertained persons that were in concentration camps and I always wondered why... Read More	William Luna
Joseph P. Ramirez	World War II	By Cheryl Smith Kemp Joseph Ramirez turned the Army down when officers tried to keep him on at the end of 1945, asking him to serve six more months in World War II, at the promised rank of Sergeant. Ramirez wanted to go home. ... Read More	William Luna
Adolfo Roberto Ramirez	World War II	By David M. Ramirez On June 6, 1944, Staff Sergeant Adolfo Roberto “Rusty” Ramirez was a member of the largest invasion force in all of recorded history. He was assigned to the 29th Infantry Division, 116th Regimental Combat Team’s 121st... Read More	David M Ramirez
Maria Ramirez	World War II	By Luther Xue By the time President John F. Kennedy urged his fellow Americans in 1961: “Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country,” Maria “Cora” Ramirez already had been helping for 21 years. ... Read More	Drs. Joanne Rao & Mario Sanchez
Conrado Ramirez	World War II	By Jeff Heimsath Conrado P. Ramirez said that having served in World War II opened many doors for him and many other Latinos. "We had the opportunity to go to college," Ramirez said. "We saw other parts of the world than just Alpine... Read More	Drs. Joanne Rao & Mario Sanchez
Virginia Tellez Ramirez	World War II	By David Vauthrin In October of 1945, Virginia Tellez Ramirez was at work at Levy's Department Store in downtown Tucson, Ariz., when she got some important news: Her brother Henry, who was captured at Corregidor in the Philippines, was... Read More	Violeta Dominguez
Jose Ramirez	World War II	By Monica Jean Alaniz Jose Ramirez, Jr. is a man who holds his friends and family close to heart. One can hear the pride in his voice when he speaks of them; it doesn’t matter if they are part of his past or present. Ramirez looks back on... Read More	Monica Jean Alaniz
Ruben Robert Ramos	World War II	By Laura Clark At 5 o’clock on the morning on July 4, 1944, Ruben Ramos stood on the deck of the USS Denver and watched three squadrons of Navy Hellcat fighters take off from a nearby aircraft carrier to attack the airfields on the heavily... Read More	Jose Figueroa
Isidro Ramos	World War II	By Rachel Vallejo As his unit hit the beaches of Guadalcanal, a small island in the South Pacific, 18-year-old Isidro Ramos witnessed for the first time the bloody price of war: dump trucks full of Marines’ bodies “stacked up like wood,”... Read More
Ramiro Ramos	World War II	By Brandon Fried Ramiro Ramos has spent much of his life just trying to get by. Raised near the Texas-Mexico border, in the town of Salineno, Ramos was one of seven children born to Rita and Esteban Ramos in the early 1920s. He... Read More	Raquel C. Garza
Alberto Rede	World War II	By Barrett Williams Flying at full speed above Australia in a C-47 during WWII, radioman Alberto Rede heard bullets ripping through the plane, followed by a sputtering engine. His mind raced: If power to the engines is lost, the... Read More	Robert Rivas
Adolfo Vega Reyes	World War II	By Zachary Warmbrodt Around March of 1921, Anita Vega Reyes and her three young boys were on the run. Her husband, Pedro Reyes, had owned a mine in their hometown of Cananea, Sonora, and he was getting too political, his youngest son Adolfo... Read More	Steven Rosales
Frances Correa Reyes	World War II	By Danielle WIlson Frances Reyes has understood the inherently difficult nature of life since childhood. Raised in the late 1920s, she and her family could only afford to buy beans and rice consistently at the neighborhood store. They... Read More
María Elisa Reyes Rodríguez	World War II	By Cheryl Smith Seventy-seven-year-old María Elisa Reyes Rodriguez isn’t shy about opening her mouth when something's not right. As a Mexican American woman and former employee of the United States Civil Service, she has developed strong... Read More	Ryan Bauer
Antonio Rico	World War II	By Brandi Richey If it wasn't for ice cream, Antonio Rico's experience in the Navy during World War II might have been even more tedious. Stationed in Guam in 1945, Rico remembers the long hours pulling guard duty on the island. "... Read More
Joe M. Riojas	World War II	Joe Riojas was stationed in the Pacific during World War II with the Army Air Corps, but his letters home never told the dangers he faced. Riojas was assigned to the 58th Fighter Group, 69th Fighter Squadron. Later, he was transferred to... Read More	Vinicio Sinta
Reginald Rios	World War II	By Chris Nay Infantryman Reginald Rios watched helplessly in December of 1944 as two fellow Americans fell to enemy fire while U.S. Sherman tanks faced off against German Panzers in northern France. His only thought: to survive.... Read More	Christopher Nay
José A. Rivera	World War II	By Melissa Ayala A devastating bomb on the other side of the Pacific Ocean and, the war was over for Jose Rivera and the rest of the world. When the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying that... Read More	Doralis Perez Soto
Manuel Robles	World War II	By May-Ying Lam Manuel Robles, an 85-year-old World War II veteran, grasps a gold- and black-edged frame with steady fingers. In the center is a faded black and white photograph with a beaming young soldier frozen in time. Robles... Read More	Jose Figueroa
Alex Rodriguez	World War II	As a little boy, Alex Rodriguez, Jr. never understood why so many people who know his father, Alex Rodriguez, treated him with the utmost respect. Later in life, while reading his father’s accounts as an infantryman in the European Theater... Read More
Cruz M. Rodriguez	World War II	By Marjon Rostami One day Cruz Rodriguez was picking corn and tomatoes on a farm outside of Chicago; the next day, the undocumented Mexican immigrant was preparing to go to war. "They [the U.S. Army] didn't care if you were legal or... Read More	William Luna
Eriberto G Rodriguez	World War II	By Janet Herrgesell For Eriberto Rodriguez, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor provided ample motivation to fight in World War II. Rodriguez was a teenager on Dec. 7, 1941 when he heard about the bombing. "Everybody was talking... Read More	Liliana Rodriguez
Armando Miguel Rodriguez	World War II	By Heather Anne Watkins Dr. Armando Rodriguez knows what it's like to be oppressed, but with a strong will he rose to the top and is living a long, happy life. Immigrating to the U.S. from Mexico when he was six years old, growing up in a... Read More	Rene Zambrano
Anastacio Tavarez Rodriguez	World War II	By Rebecca Fontenot Anastacio Rodriguez spent four weeks in Cheyenne, Wyo., training with the Army for World War II, but he didn’t need to be taught how to roll with the punches. Rodriguez had been taking hardship in stride since he was a... Read More	Pedro Reynoso
Benito L. Rodriguez	World War II	By Andria Infante Benito L. Rodriguez served 20 years in the service and doesn't regret a single second. Rodriguez went in willingly, volunteering to serve his country; in the course of his tour of duty, he risked his life and was... Read More	Andria Infante
Henry Rodriguez	World War II	By Hope Teel Out of work with eight mouths to feed, Henry Rodriguez’s family left California in the early 1930s during the beginning of the Great Depression. For Rodriguez, the family’s youngest member, the trip marked his first... Read More	Ronald Rodriguez