By Jenny White
When Fernando Bernacett came to New York City to find his father as a 6-year-old in 1929, he had no idea what an adventure he was beginning. By the time the Puerto Rico native retired in Miami, he’d witnessed the Great Depression, helped in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, guarded the atomic bomb, was quarantined for tuberculosis and watched the World Trade Center fall.
By Rachna Sheth and Sandra Taylor
Philip James Benavides had a dream when he joined the United States Marine Corps in the summer of 1941: He wanted to make music. But within three and a half years, particularly after three months of torture in a Japanese prison camp, he’d lost those physical abilities that had made him a standout musician since childhood.
By Marisa Galvan
Not everyone in World War II worked on the front lines or manned the battleships. There were those who served behind the lines, who provided basic services and support and who were often taken for granted.
Henry A. Bebon never felt his contributions during the war were any less than any other soldier. He did what he was ordered to do and carried out his assignments accordingly.
Bebon was stationed in the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific, assigned to work in the officer's club. He performed any number of jobs needing to be done while there.
By Meredith Stencil
Amador Barbosa seems so matter of fact about his wartime experiences -- almost too matter of fact when you consider his primary responsibility was to clear mines and unexploded devices, as well as trudge through combat lines with 30 pounds of dynamite strapped to his back.
By Karen Matthews
Dennis Baca still cries when he thinks of the friends he lost during World War II. Even now, 57 years after his discharge from the U.S. Army, his voice becomes choked with emotion as he recalls the battles, the hardships and the deaths that marked his days in the South Pacific.
A soft-spoken 76-year-old with a gentle face, Baca is uncomfortable talking about himself or his war experiences. He doesn't see his service during WWII as anything heroic. He was just doing his job, he says.
By Valerie Venegas
Andres Arredondo dealt with adversity throughout his life. He overcome the death of his father at an early age and endured the torture of being a prisoner of war during World War II. Yet, through it all, he has managed to remain humble.
Arredondo’s POW memories are from the days he was forced to work in fields near Luxembourg in the middle of winter. He remembers the bitter cold and the pain he suffered in a cramped cell.
By Karin Brulliard
When Imogene "Jean" Davis first laid eyes on Alfred Avalos in September of 1942, she didn’t notice he was more than a decade her senior, and that his skin was several shades darker than hers. She saw only that he was handsome.
It was her first day as a clerk at Eckmark photography studios at Camp Walters Army Base in Mineral Wells, Texas. Alfred, who went by Pat because he was born on St. Patrick's Day, was a photographer there.
He was taken himself with the 22-year-old woman.
By Rachel Finney
Born in her grandmother's home in 1926, in the small agricultural town of Las Tusas in northern New Mexico, Eva Maria Archuleta lived a life of modest means, like most during the World War II era.
With no electricity for refrigeration or television and no car for transportation, young Archuleta and her six brothers and sisters found an inspirational appreciation for things that today seem commonplace.
"We were so happy when we got to ride on the wagon into the town of Mora and get a piece of candy or maybe an orange. It was a good life," she said.
By Heather Hilliard
The six months Bennie Archuleta spent in battle in Europe during World War II changed his life forever.
As a 17-year-old teenager, he had rarely traveled outside of the American Southwest. But as a soldier in the 99th Infantry Division, he found himself marching across European countries. Up to that time, he could only dream about visiting those foreign lands.
But WWII was no dream. If anything, the horrors of war proved to be a nightmare for Archuleta, nightmares that still haunt him to this day.
By Casey Zertuche
For 72-year-old Thomas Armendariz, it was difficult to conjure up memories of World War II, though he does recall being assigned to a unit that included many Mexican Americans.
"I wasn't a volunteer. I was drafted," Armendariz said.
Induction into the Army in San Antonio was followed by basic training then assignment to Greenland for two months.
"I was too cold and I wanted to transfer to Salerno because I wanted to join the 36th Infantry Division," said Armendariz, who was born and raised in considerably warmer Texas.
