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 airplanes as a member of the 810th Air Division at Biggs Air Force Base in El Paso, Texas, a training center for B-17, B-24 and B-29 crews during World War II.
By Jennifer Lindgren
These are some things Virgina Gallardo Nuñez remembers about growing up in South Texas during World War II: curling her hair with the string ties from coffee bags instead of bobby pins because metal was rationed; huddling close to the family radio, listening to war-news updates and Glenn Miller, her favorite singer; and attending midnight Mass on Christmas Eve to pray for her three brothers at war, before having her mother's delicious homemade tamales for Christmas dinner.
By Kelly Tarleton
The thought of failure has never deterred Leopold Rodriguez Moreno from his goals.
Moreno says he was the first Mexican American to be sent to West Virginia as an inspector for the Southern Pacific Railroad Co.
He met Rosa Villagomez, the woman of his dreams, and decided he’d marry her. Six years later, he did.
But Moreno says one of his most important accomplishments is having survived a gunshot wound in the back during the Battle of Luzon in World War II.
By Kaz Edwards
Benito Morales sits perfectly still on his couch, adjusting only his hands, which lie neatly folded in his lap. Arranged next to him are various pieces of memorabilia from World War II, including a Bronze Star he received for heroic achievement in action.
But Morales doesn’t look at himself as a hero, merely one of the lucky few who made it through WWII alive and unscathed.
By Gilbert Song
Born March 15, 1926, Maclovio Montoya experienced the Great Depression and military duty in World War II. Then it was off to the Pacific for the Korean War. However, it was in his golden years when he fought his greatest struggle -- trying for decades to receive the Purple Heart for being wounded in WWII.
Montoya has a quiet and husky voice; his demeanor is gentle. He wears a purple veteran's hat covered with military pins, ribbons and badges, accompanied by a matching purple silk bomber jacket.
By Alicia Rascón
While scores of Latinos served their country valiantly during World War II, many women did their part on the home front.
Juanita Tapia Montoya vividly remembers wartime rationing back home during these years, when the U.S. government limited the purchasing of items such as sugar, meat and other materials needed for the military. Families had ration-stamp books to use to purchase goods.
By Ignacio Laguarda
It was New Year's Eve in 1944 when Soldier First Class Juan Meza discovered Germans had occupied an abandoned college in France -- the same building where he and five other soldiers were resting.
"We were directing the artillery to shoot where we knew they were giving us more battles," Meza said.
He and the other soldiers were there for a week, five or 10 kilometers in front of battle, serving as observers.
By Rachel Gor
In Antonia Meza's day, girls had chaperones accompany them on dates and stayed home with their mothers to make tortillas. Today, Meza's own granddaughters spend entire weekends with their boyfriends, and even she buys tortillas from the grocery store.
These are only a couple of ways in which traditions have changed from the WWII generation to the present.
By Naomi Price
Joe Borunda Medina was fresh out of Wiley High School in Wiley, Colo., when he was inducted into the Army in June of 1943.
Initially drafted, Borunda says he received a notice several weeks later that he was no longer needed. He decided to join anyway, however, and was sent to Denver for basic training, then to Utah for additional training and testing.
By Sarah Kleiner
Jess Medina witnessed death for the first time as a little boy when he saw a man get run over by a streetcar.
Because of this experience, Medina says he had no fear when he had to piece together bodies of fellow seamen after a kamikaze crashed into his ship.
