United States

By Sarah Carter

Thomas Casso took off through the jungle after lighting a smoke signal that would tell United States troops where to target the Japanese, who were trailing his company on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.

Casso recalled his superior telling him, "Look, here's a smoke pot ... after we're out of sight and you can't hear us anymore -- 15 minutes -- you stay here then you light it and then you run ... and catch up with us.”

"Oh, 15 minutes can be a long, long time," Casso said.

By Juliana Torres

During the landing at Salerno, Abner Carrasco was shooting at a German Panzer, a heavily armored tank, when its turret suddenly pivoted and pointed directly at him. Facing his potential death, Carrasco kept firing and was surprised when the tank drove off.

He’d spent his childhood working odd jobs, from picking tomatoes to caddying at country clubs or setting up pins in bowling alleys. He says he joined the Texas National Guard in 1938 "for fun," not thinking the United States would ever go to war.

By Miranda Bollinger

When Ignacio Servín volunteered during World War II for a mission so dangerous his commander wouldn’t even assign it to someone, he wasn’t even frightened. He wanted to do it.

"I just kept thinking, 'If I die, it will be for a great country,'" Servín said.

When Eladio Martinez was growing up in Dallas, Texas, education was a priority. His father was a laborer and inspired his children to learn. Like his three younger siblings, Martinez graduated from Dallas Technical High School. Growing up, the Martinez children enjoyed outdoor activities such as fishing and hunting.

By Stacy Nelson

Post-World War II brought what Virgilio G. Roel termed "The Golden Era" for Mexican Americans.

"With the GI Bill, for the first time in the history of our country, and our ethnic experience, Mexican Americans had the opportunity to attend colleges and universities all over the United States" Roel said.

For more than six decades he was involved in the betterment of the social, labor, economic, educational and political advancement of Mexican Americans, and, later, Latinos in general, as well as other minority men, women and young people.

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, he worked for four years building public works like San Antonio, Texas’, River Walk. After that, he labored as an auto mechanic, which he says he enjoyed.

“In those years, they didn’t have food stamps or Social Security. My dad didn’t have Social Security,” he said of his youth

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 there is when I was in the Army at Fort Jackson."

In the Army photograph, a younger Ybarra looked dignified and handsome in uniform. He fought at Normandy in World War II. A gentle-voiced, polite man wearing large dark-rimmed glasses, he gestured animatedly when talking about his war experiences.

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 God I made it back," he said. "Not in one piece, but I'm still ticking."

Born Nov. 16, 1919, Villarreal, had left South Texas only one other time. Before fighting in the war from 1936 to 1939, he lived in the Pacific Northwest as a part of a Civilian Conservation Corps labor crew.

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 corpsman, tending to sick and wounded men. It was that experience that would lead him to devote his life to his faith, as a Roman Catholic priest.

Sailing in the South Pacific, aboard the USS Long Island, Vega had thoughts of being killed by a torpedo.

"When you have a thought like that for two years, you learn to pray," Vega said.

By Krystal De los Santos

When George S. Vasquez was separated from his unit during the Battle of the Bulge in Germany, he lived by his wits behind enemy lines for a month

“The whole company had just vanished in the dark,” Vasquez said.

Company K of the 424th Infantry Regiment, 106th Army Infantry Division, had been defending its positions, trying to keep the Germans from marching on to Belgium, when its members were surrounded.

“One night the company commander says we couldn’t hold anymore ... so we infiltrated out,” he said.