By Lynn Maguire
Rafael Fierro graduated from a small Texas high school in May of 1939, hoping to go to college on a basketball scholarship; but rather than donning a basketball jersey, he put on the uniform of a U.S. soldier.
"I went to the Sanderson [,Texas,] courthouse and signed up as a volunteer," wrote Fierro in comments to the Project. "On February 20th, 1941, I received orders to report to Ft. Bliss [in] Texas ... for boot camp."
By Karina Valenzuela
The Falcon family's military service extends beyond four brothers' time in World War II.
By Jennifer Yee
Like many veterans coming home from World War II, Henry Falcon remembers having a difficult time adjusting to American society. His return to the peace of America was a stark contrast to his three years of fierce air combat as a gunner on bomber missions over Europe.
By Whitney Sterling
On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, the entire Buitron family, including all nine children, was sitting in church when the pastor shocked the congregation by announcing the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. For Herlinda Estrada, this was more confusing than informative.
The 11-year-old wondered what it all meant. Her only knowledge of American wars had come from reading history books. Now, she, like a whole nation, was forced to deal with a world war that would last four difficult years.
By Robin Larson
For Antonio "Tony"M. Esquivel, any romanticized remembrances of youth are tempered with memories of pervasive pre-war segregation in his hometown and the inescapable horror he endured in combat.
"I liked the service because it put a lot of incentive in me," Esquivel said. "I just didn't like the death I witnessed."
By Xochitl Salazar
Manuel Espinoza's father, Concepción, was struck by lightning in 1930 while working on railroad tracks in Colorado.
The older Espinoza's death had great repercussions: His young widow, Ventura Mendoza Espinoza, and their three sons moved to San Antonio, Texas, to stay with her parents. Ventura began working and her boys helped her out. In time, though, Espinoza would join the Navy and survive battles in the Philippines before returning to start a life of his own.
By Bianca Camaño
Education was always important in the Esparza home. So from an early age, Angel Esparza expected he and his six siblings would graduate from high school and go on to college.
Esparza attributes his high educational goals to his mother, Guadalupe Vega Esparza.
"My mother was pro-education like you won't believe," said Esparza, who was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1922. "We were all going to get all the education possible, so we did."
By Sandra Freyberg
Growing up as the oldest of six girls, Concepción Alvarado Escobedo learned early what it means to take responsibility. Even when she was hardly more than a toddler she helped her mother take care of her younger sisters. Later, she washed diapers, first boiling the clothes and then scrubbing them on a washboard.
By Israel Saenz
Growing up in Utah, Raymon Elizondo grew up having to scrap: he struggled to get as much schooling as he could, stood up to those who didn’t welcome Latinos and earned what he could as a railroad hand for Union Pacific Railroad. That toughness would serve him well during World War II, when he became part of an elite group of men who sometimes went behind enemy lines to seek out information or even engage in combat.
By Israel Saenz
Davie Elizardo never asked for much. For a woman who grew up without an education, doing field labor throughout the day and watching one of her brothers go off to fight in the Pacific, the wellbeing of her family is all she needs.
"I just want that my grandchildren find good work and not have to struggle," Elizardo said. "They have very good opportunities."
To struggle and work hard to get by was so much a way of life for Elizardo, she hardly noticed it.
