By Juan de la Cruz
As the only Mexican American in his troop, Anastacio Perez Juarez experienced problems not normally encountered by other soldiers.
Because of his limited English, even the simplest commands -- forward, march, halt, and others -- were a challenge for the young enlistee.
"It's like in music," he said. "If you don't know a note, you don't play. In the Army, it's the same thing. You got to walk at the same time the others walk."
By Tony Cantú
Among his siblings, four of whom would join him in the war effort, Jose Ramirez "Joe" Jasso is remembered as el cabezudo, the hard-headed one of the bunch, always getting into trouble as a youth.
Jasso had grown up quickly by the time he joined the war effort. Serving as a surgical technician, he helped treat victims of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines and the Corregidor battle. Amid the wounded and dying, the playfulness and mischief of childhood quickly became a thing of the past.
By Kristina Radke
Despite the horrors he experienced during World War II, Tomas A. Hernandez has lived a full, happy life.
Hernandez was born on Dec. 29, 1925, in Temple, Texas, to Mexican parents.
"My father spoke broken English," he said; “my mother didn't speak English at all."
By Juliana Torres
Though also a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Rafael Hernandez says it was World War II that created significant opportunities for Latinos.
By Nikki Muñoz
The son of a laborer, Lupe Hernandez has been defined by the concept of hard work, having spent much of his childhood alongside his father in the fields.
Hernandez's parents, Guadalupe Hernandez and Isidora Garza Hernandez, moved to the border town of McAllen, Texas, from Mexico in 1918. After having immigrated to Texas, his mother was visiting relatives in Mexico and gave birth to Hernandez in Reynosa, Mexico, where his grandmother lived.
Hernandez has many memories of his childhood, but mostly he recalls working with his father in the fields.
By Adrienne M. Cody
One needn't go further than Emma Hernandez’s own family, well-known in their community of Pharr, Texas, for their humanitarian efforts, to understand why she has devoted her life to civic service.
By Nikki Muñoz
Rafael A. Guerra has always had an optimistic outlook on life, relying on an affirmation for help through life's rough spots, including his tour of duty: "If the sun comes out today, it is going to shine on me; if it doesn't come out, it won't," said Guerra, relating the mantra.
By Jennifer Gallo
Gonzalo Garza's commitment to the Marines Corps began with the recruiting pamphlet. Of the five principles dubbed as "pillars" for that institution, Garza was particularly serious about using education as a guide after completing his service.
By Leslie McLain
When Pete A. Gallego returned from World War II after having helped changed the course of history, he found his hometown hadn’t undergone such dramatic transformation. Instead, the population in Alpine, Texas, had stabilized, a stagnant class system remained entrenched and the same urban ills of before were endemic.
By Lindsay Peyton
While scores of Latinos valiantly served their country amid discrimination during World War II, many -- such as Elena Gallego of Fort Stockton, Texas -- fought social battles on the homefront.
The wife of a WWII veteran, Gallego remembers prejudice in her hometown: Among other restrictions, the public swimming pool and certain sections of the park and library were off limits to Hispanics, signs in restaurants reading: "No Dogs Allowed" applied to Latinos, and they were only allowed on the upper balcony of the movie theater.