Army

By Andria Infante

Benito L. Rodriguez served 20 years in the service and doesn't regret a single second.

Rodriguez went in willingly, volunteering to serve his country; in the course of his tour of duty, he risked his life and was awarded a Purple Heart.

Speaking from the dining room at his South Austin home, Rodriguez discussed his life before and after the war. His wife, María Elisa Reyes Rodriguez, sat by his side and helped fuel his memory. A well-groomed man, Rodriguez maintained a serious demeanor and kept his answers short and to the point.

By Heather Anne Watkins

Dr. Armando Rodriguez knows what it's like to be oppressed, but with a strong will he rose to the top and is living a long, happy life. Immigrating to the U.S. from Mexico when he was six years old, growing up in a family of eight siblings and leading Latino organizations in high school that he said were deprived of opportunities given to white students were only a few of the obstacles Rodriguez had to overcome.

By Erika Martinez

When Andres Chavez Rodriguez was 16 years old in a small village in the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, his father sent him to live with his uncle in Monterrey.

"From then on, my life changed," Chavez Rodriguez said.

By Frank Trejo

A radio signal that happened to bounce all the way north to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands provided a lifeline for Ramon Martín Rivas during World War II. It was the early stage of the war and Rivas, a 21-year-old young man who had seldom traveled far from his impoverished South Texas community of Charlotte, found himself stationed in a forbidding wintry land 1,000 miles southwest of Alaska.

By Chris Nay

Infantryman Reginald Rios watched helplessly in December of 1944 as two fellow Americans fell to enemy fire while U.S. Sherman tanks faced off against German Panzers in northern France.

His only thought: to survive.

Shooting out of foxholes on the front line every day, ducking into foxholes to avoid bullets every night and praying every minute it would end soon -- such was the life of Rios during World War II, as infantryman were the first to the front line.

"You have to do it," he said. "You either do what you're told or be killed."

By Frank Trejo

Morris Riojas lived through some of the most horrific and brutal fighting of the Pacific during World War II.

In campaigns from the Solomon Islands to the Philippines, he witnessed countless deaths, both Japanese and allied soldiers, and was himself wounded three times.

"I don't know how I got through it," he said, sitting in the kitchen of the East Austin home he built after returning home from his service in World War II. "You just lived from day-to-day and just prayed a lot."

By Matthew Trana

When Tony Reyna arrived at Normandy Beach on June 9, 1944, three days after the D-Day launch, he couldn't believe his eyes.

"It was real rough," Reyna said. "...People cut in half. Some had no head, some had no legs. It was real bad."

By Katherine Hearty

It was Frank Resendez's first night in New Guinea in November of 1943 and his company had carelessly left on the residential lights. A mistake that could have cost them their lives, as the rumbling and reverberating of detonating war bombs thundered throughout the night sky.

Luckily, however, the company was spared.

Resendez's journey to World War II began 22 years earlier in the town of Bluff Springs, Texas, about 10 miles south of Austin.

Born Francisco Rodriguez Resendez on Jan. 29, 1920, he lived in Texas until he was 9 months old.

By Sam Wolloch

Jose Ramirez has always been a hard-working man, dating back to his first job selling newspapers in McAllen, Texas. Making 2 cents for every newspaper he sold, he proudly bought a 12-cent cream pitcher for his mother and 2-cent candy for himself after his first day of work.

He was only eight years of age, but he already knew how to give back to those that cared for him.

Ramirez was the third of eight children in his family, which has been in Texas since 1700s. When not in school, he was working to ease the financial burden on his parents.

By Yazmin Lazcano

There was once a possibility that Carlos Quintana would never be able to tell his own story. Wounds suffered in battle on the Pacific island of Saipan during World War II left him hardly able to speak or eat properly for six years.

But, when interviewed in 2000, Quintana was easily able to recount his belief in the importance and power of education in his life and that of future generations.

"The most important thing is to be educated," he said.