Veterans Day.Thank you

They give so much so that we may live free. Thank you isn't enough.

And they have earned nothing less than the highest respect, praise, and thanks from our entire country.

This Veterans Day, we pause to remember the brave men and women who have sacrificed so much in the defense of our freedoms.

Again thank You isn't enough, and I think the next best thing we can do is to support them, honor them and respect them for what they do and have done. past, present and future! God Bless You All!!!! God bless America!!!!!!!! thank you to all the Veterans, we will never know what it feels like to experience what you did. but you will never know how much it meant to us and how thankfull we really are. they really did pay the supreme sacrifice. I thank you Veterans everywhere.

Several soldiers who have returned from combat zones talk with the American News Project about what they say is the widespread practice of using "drop weapons" to cover up the killing of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. We feature five veterans and current members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, plus retired Lieutenant Colonel Gary Solis, a Vietnam War veteran and legal scholar who taught "Law of War" at West Point

Honor a nuestros Heroes Latinos Olvidados en La Guerras.

Los Heroes Olvidados por los Medios de Comunicacion. The forgotten Heroes by the News Media.

The transforming experiences of African-Americans and Japanese-Americans during World War II have been well documented on public television. They speak to issues of civil rights, self-determination, and racial integration of the U.S. Armed Forces. And after the war, access to education and fair housing were among the benefits sought and in some measure attained because of their wartime achievements.

For Latinos, and Mexican-Americans in particular, there are few programs that present stories of the heroism and sacrifices made on behalf of the ideals of freedom and valor.

Mexicans Americans Veterans from all branches of our armed forces were interviewed in Texas, Arizona and California. Among them is Silvestre Herrera, a Latino soldier awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for injuries suffered in battle; B-25 bomber pilot Gilbert Orrantia; and D-Day veteran John D. Luna. Women who participated in the war effort also describe their experiences, including Henrietta Lopez Rivas, a Texas woman who used her excellent bilingual skills to work at the local Civil Defense office and later as a mechanic at Kelly Air Base in San Antonio; and Rosa Ramirez Guerrero, who devoted her time as an entertainer for troops stationed in El Paso.


Hardly a day goes by without William Figueroa mentioning his World War II memories. The retired lawyer, who became a naturalized United States citizen after joining the army in 1942, loves to regale his seven children and three grandchildren with World War II stories of "flying a typewriter." Figueroa was a staff sergeant who served as chief clerk at the Air Office of the Africa Middle East Transport Unit in Cairo, Egypt.

Figueroa recalls fondly, "There was no Air Force in those days. We were known as the Army Air Corps. Our main function was to facilitate the transport of cargo and dignitaries. But, we also took every opportunity to explore the rich historical sites of the region."

And, explore he did. "We grew up hearing about my dad's army buddies, and all the things they did overseas. We have pictures of him at the Pyramids, and lots of mementos that he brought back from the Middle East, such as Egyptian scarabs, carved brass candlesticks and filigreed jewelry," notes Figueroa's daughter Mary, a Minneapolis physician

This fall, the Figueroa family will gather in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier to celebrate William's 80th birthday. No doubt, there will be many World War II remembrances at the event, and not just from William. Two of his three sisters, Josephine and Teresa, are married to World War II veterans. Josephine's husband, Albert Peinado, was an infantryman in Italy. Teresa's husband, Stan Santoyo, served in the Pacific and was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese in the Philippines. Between them, the three World War II veterans have 23 children and 37 grandchildren. The entire clan is close, and gets together frequently for parties. "We're so lucky to have so much history right here in our own family. Who else can boast of three World War II veterans, and all of them serving in different parts of the world?" says Figueroa's niece, Liza De La Rosa Walker, who is compiling a family history.

Although the Department of Veterans Affairs does not know the exact number of Hispanics who fought in World War II it estimates that up to 500,000 served. The number includes 53,000 Puerto Ricans in the 65th Infantry Regiment from Puerto Rico.

Hispanics earned 12 Medals of Honor during World War II, distinguishing themselves in the Philippines, North Africa, the Aleutian Islands, the Mediterranean and Europe. In fact, Hispanics have earned more Medals of Honor—39 in all-than any other ethnic group. After World War II, General Douglas Mac Arthur described the 158th Regimental Combat Team, comprised mostly of Mexican-Americans and Native Americans from Arizona, and known as the "Bushmasters," as "the greatest fighting combat team ever deployed for battle."

Yet, the media have largely ignored Hispanic contributions to the World War II effort. The golden anniversary of key World War II events brought a wave of commemorative books and big-budget Hollywood movies, such as Saving Private Ryan and Pearl Harbor. But, how many made mention of Hispanics?

But, Hispanic vets, you can tell the stories yourself. World War II veterans who think their families aren't interested in hearing about their wartime experiences should keep one thing in mind. Decades from now, your grandchildren or great-grandchildren will come across some wartime memorabilia you have long forgotten about. They will regret they didn't hear your recollections first-hand. And, one more thing you should know—America is interested in hearing your story. There are several ongoing projects dedicated to preserving World War II recollections, and they'd like to hear from you!

Two years ago, the U.S. Congress created the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress's American Folklife Center in Washington, D.C. Citing the "urgent need" to collect stories and experiences from veterans, the Veterans History Project is gathering audio and video tapes of oral histories, as well as other material from veterans. The material will be archived in various museums and educational institutions across the country. Some will even be conserved in a "Digital Library," where it will be accessible to future generations. AARP is a founding corporate sponsor of the Veterans History Project, which is actively seeking Hispanic World War II veterans to share their stories.

At the University of Texas at Austin, Assistant Professor of Journalism Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez is spearheading an ambitious project aimed specifically at Hispanic WWII veterans. Volunteers with the Latino & Latina World War II Oral History Project have videotaped interviews with more than 500 veterans. And, she's not just gathering material from soldiers. She wants to hear from factory workers and women who kept the home fires burning during the War years. "We want a complete sociological portrait of Hispanic life during that era," says Rivas-Rodriguez. The completed histories will be archived in two libraries at the University of Texas. "We want people hundreds of years from now to recognize the great contributions of Hispanics during the war," says Rivas-Rodriguez.

Untold stories of Mexican-American WWII veterans.
By San Gabriel Valley Tribue.




Much debate has been raised over whether the Latino contribution to World War II has been overlooked or ignored by modern-day media.

WHITTIER - His mission was to help about two dozen comrades herding 20,000 armed German soldiers who surrendered during World War II.

At first, David Alcala thought it was crazy.
But it wasn't long before he was driving his jeep up and down the massive line of enemy forces as they marched on the banks of the Loire River in September 1944 toward a prisoner camp.

The Whittier resident and his fellow soldiers were ordered to make sure the captive Germans marched without incident.

"I was hoping they wouldn't (turn on us)" the 86-year-old said. "If anything would have started, I wouldn't be here."

Alcala's unit, the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon of the Army's 329th Infantry Regiment, assisted in what is widely considered the largest mass surrender during the war. They were featured on an episode of the popular 1950s television show, "This is Your Life," with host Ralph Edwards.

Alcala was the only Mexican-American in the platoon. Continue reading here: http://www.sgvtribune.com/mexicanveterans/ci_7114669

Here: http://www.sgvtribune.com/mexicanveterans/ci_6980821

Here: http://www.sgvtribune.com/mexicanveterans

Honoring The Green card Soldiers who's died in Iraq.






A young, ambitious immigrant from Guatemala who dreamed of becoming an architect. A Nigerian medic. A soldier from China who boasted he would one day become an American general. An Indian native whose headstone displays the first Khanda, emblem of the Sikh faith, to appear in Arlington National Cemetery.

These were among more than 100 foreign-born members of the U.S. military who earned American citizenship by dying in Iraq.

Jose Gutierrez was one of the first to fall, killed by friendly fire in the dust of Umm Qasr in the opening hours of the invasion.
In death, the young Marine was showered with honors his family could only have dreamed of in life. His sister was flown in from Guatemala for his memorial service, where a Roman Catholic cardinal presided and top military officials saluted his flag-draped coffin.
And yet, his foster mother agonized as she accompanied his body back for burial in Guatemala City: Why did Jose have to die for America in order to truly belong?
Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, who oversaw Gutierrez's service, put it differently.

"There is something terribly wrong with our immigration policies if it takes death on the battlefield in order to earn citizenship," Mahony wrote to President Bush in April 2003. He urged the president to grant immediate citizenship to all immigrants who sign up for military service in wartime.

"They should not have to wait until they are brought home in a casket," Mahony said.
But as the war continues, more and more immigrants are becoming citizens in death — and more and more families are grappling with deeply conflicting feelings about exactly what the honor means.

Gutierrez's citizenship certificate — dated to his death on March 21, 2003, — was presented during a memorial service in Lomita, Calif., to Nora Mosquera, who took in the orphaned teen after he had trekked through Central America, hopping freight trains through Mexico before illegally sneaking into the U.S.

"On the one hand I felt that citizenship was too late for him," Mosquera said. "But I also felt grateful and very proud of him. I knew it would open doors for us as a family."

"What use is a piece of paper?" cried Fredelinda Pena after another emotional naturalization ceremony, this one in New York City where her brother's framed citizenship certificate was handed to his distraught mother. Next to her, the infant daughter he had never met dozed in his fiancee's arms.

Cpl. Juan Alcantara, 22, a native of the Dominican Republic, was killed Aug. 6, 2007, by an explosive in Baqouba. He was buried by a cardinal and eulogized by a congressman but to his sister, those tributes seemed as hollow as citizenship.
"He can't take the oath from a coffin," she sobbed.

There are tens of thousands of foreign-born members in the U.S. armed forces. Many have been naturalized, but more than 20,000 are not U.S. citizens.
"Green card soldiers," they are often called, and early in the war, Bush signed an executive order making them eligible to apply for citizenship as soon as they enlist. Previously, legal residents in the military had to wait three years.
Since Bush's order, nearly 37,000 soldiers have been naturalized. And 109 who lost their lives have been granted posthumous citizenship.

They are buried with purple hearts and other decorations, and their names are engraved on tombstones in Arlington as well as in Mexico and India and Guatemala.

Among them:
• Marine Cpl. Armando Ariel Gonzalez, 25, who fled Cuba on a raft with his father and brother in 1995 and dreamed of becoming an American firefighter. He was crushed by a refueling tank in southern Iraq on April 14, 2003.

• Army Spc. Justin Onwordi, a 28-year-old Nigerian medic whose heart seemed as big as his smiling 6-foot-4 frame and who left behind a wife and baby boy. He died when his vehicle was blown up in Baghdad on Aug. 2, 2004.

• Army Pfc. Ming Sun, 20, of China who loved the U.S. military so much he planned to make a career out of it, boasting that he would rise to the rank of general. He was killed in a firefight in Ramadi on Jan. 9, 2007.

• Army Spc. Uday Singh, 21, of India, killed when his patrol was attacked in Habbaniyah on Dec. 1, 2003. Singh was the first Sikh to die in battle as a U.S. soldier, and it is his headstone at Arlington that displays the Khanda.

• Marine Lance Cpl. Patrick O'Day from Scotland, buried in the California rain as bagpipes played and his 19-year-old pregnant wife told mourners how honored her 20-year-old husband had felt to fight for the country he loved.
"He left us in the most honorable way a man could," Shauna O'Day said at the March 2003 Santa Rosa service. "I'm proud to say my husband is a Marine. I'm proud to say my husband fought for our country. I'm proud to say he is a hero, my hero."

Not all surviving family members feel so sure. Some parents blame themselves for bringing their child to the U.S. in the first place. Others face confusion and resentment when they try to bury their child back home.

At Lance Cpl. Juan Lopez's July 4, 2004, funeral in the central Mexican town of San Luis de la Paz, Mexican soldiers demanded that the U.S. Marine honor guard surrender their arms, even though the rifles were ceremonial. Earlier, the Mexican Defense Department had denied the Marines' request to conduct the traditional 21-gun salute, saying foreign troops were not permitted to bear arms on Mexican soil.

And so mourners, many deeply opposed to the war, witnessed an extraordinary 45-minute standoff that disrupted the funeral even as Lopez's weeping widow was handed his posthumous citizenship by a U.S. embassy official.

The same swirl of conflicting emotions and messages often overshadows the military funerals of posthumous citizens in the U.S.
Smuggled across the Mexican border in his mother's arms when he was 2 months old, Jose Garibay was just 21 when he died in Nasiriyah. The Costa Mesa police department made him an honorary police officer, something he had hoped one day to become. America made him a citizen.
But his mother, Simona Garibay, couldn't conceal her bewilderment and pain. It seemed, she said in interviews after the funeral, that more value was being placed on her son's death than on his life.

Immigrant advocates have similar mixed feelings about military service. Non-citizens cannot become officers or serve in high-security jobs, they note, and yet the benefits of citizenship are regularly pitched by recruiters, and some recruitment programs specifically target colleges and high schools with predominantly Latino students.

"Immigrants are lured into service and then used as political pawns or cannon fodder," said Dan Kesselbrenner, executive director of the National Immigration Project, a program of the National Lawyers Guild. "It is sad thing to see people so desperate to get status in this country that they are prepared to die for it."

Others question whether non-citizens should even be permitted to serve. Mark Krikorian of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, argues that defending America should be the job of Americans, not non-citizens whose loyalty might be suspect. In granting special benefits, including fast-track citizenship, Krikorian says, there is a danger that soldiering will eventually become yet another job that Americans won't do.

And yet, immigrants have always fought — and died — in America's wars.
During the Cvil War, the Union army recruited Irish and German immigrants off the boat. Alfred Rascon, an Undocumented immigrant from Mexico, received the Medal of Honor for acts of bravery during the Vietnam war. In the 1990s, Gen. John Shalikashvili, born in Poland after his family fled the occupied Republic of Georgia, became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

After the Iraq invasion, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico fielded hundreds of requests from Mexicans offering to fight in exchange for citizenship. They mistakenly believed that Bush's order also applied to nonresidents.

The right to become an American is not automatic for those who die in combat. Families must formally apply for citizenship within two years of the soldier's death, and not all choose to do so.

"He's Italian, better to leave it like that," Saveria Romeo says of her 23-year-old son, Army Staff Sgt. Vincenzo Romeo, who was born in Calabria, died in Iraq and is buried in New Jersey. A miniature Italian flag marks his grave, next to an American one."What good would it do?" she says. "It won't bring back my son."

But it would allow her to apply for citizenship for herself, a benefit only recently offered to surviving parents and spouses. Until 2003 posthumous citizenship was granted only through an act of Congress and was purely symbolic. There were no benefits for next of kin.

Romeo says she has no desire to apply. She says she couldn't bear to benefit in any way from her son's death. And besides, she feels Italian, not American.

Fernando Suarez del Solar just feels angry — angry at what he considers the futility of a war that claimed his only son, angry at the military recruiters he says courted young Jesus relentlessly even when the family still lived in Tijuana.
His son was just 13, Suarez del Solar said, when he was first dazzled by Marine recruiters in a California mall. For the next two years Jesus begged the family to emigrate and eventually they did, settling in Escondido, Calif., where the teen signed up for the Marines before he left high school.
Lance Cpl. Jesus Suarez Del Solar was 20 when he was killed by a bomb in the first week of the war. He left behind a wife and baby and parents so bitter about his death that they eventually divorced.
Today, his 52-year-old father has become an outspoken peace activist who travels the country organizing anti-war marches, giving speeches and working with counter-recruitment groups to dissuade young Latinos from joining the U.S. military.
"There is nothing in my life now but saving these young people," he says. "It is just something I feel have to do."

But first he had to journey to Iraq. He had to see for himself the dusty stretch of wasteland where his son became an American. In tears, he planted a small wooden cross. And he prayed for his son — and for all the other immigrants who became citizens in death.

Why Historians, U.S.Goverment and their allies didn't recognized the aid from Mexico in the World War II?.


Asked to name the Allies in World War II, very few people would include Mexico in the list. Largely ignored by historians, it is time that Mexico's aid to the U. S. and the Allies is brought to the attention of both Mexicans and the world. Those Mexicans who were given the opportunity to show their mettle did so with bravery and elan. Mexicans should be proud of them, the Allies grateful to them. Had Mexico thrown in its lot with the Axis, the consequences might well have changed the entire course of history.

Among new issues, the question of how to handle Mexican citizens who chose to join the U.S. Armed Forces was resolved and Mexico became the beneficiary of Lend-lease assistance, thus allowing the country to modernize its Air Force, Army and Navy. The improved climate now permitted U.S. petroleum technology and expertise to again become available below the Rio Grande. In fact, Mexican raw materials fueled over 40% of the U.S. war industries, a fact that historians have chosen to ignore. This in itself was a great contribution to the American and Allied war effort and merits acknowledgment.

But the road to a continual alliance was not a smooth one.

By 1943, when it became obvious that Mexico was no longer in danger of an invasion by Japan, forces in both the United States and Mexico became critical of the close economic ties that were developing. Radical politicians in Mexico were claiming that soon the U.S. would establish a lasting control over their entire economy. North of the border there was grumbling about the cost of the aid being given to support the Camacho government. While Mexico had broken off relationships with the Axis after the attack on Pearl Harbor, they had stopped short of a declaration of war. They were still being wooed by both by Germany and Fascist Spain. Large Italian minorities also exerted pressure on the government. The treaty between Stalin and Hitler had cooled the anti-fascist fervor of the Mexican Communist Party and had indeed made some of them pro-German. Thus the Mexican Government was caught between its own left and right wing partisans and was frozen into inaction.

Now, a miscalculation by Germany provided the impetus to break the stalemate. Numerous submarine attacks on Mexican ships, coupled with a massive propaganda campaign launched by the U.S., British and French began to turn the tide of public opinion. Fearful that an invasion by either Germany or Japan would lead to a massive invasion by the U.S. and turn Mexico into a battleground, the Mexican government, albiet secretly, had permitted U.S. agents to enter the country to train Mexican counter-intelligence forces and to help secure both of Mexico's coasts against possible incursions by saboteurs. There is some evidence that Germany, Italy and Spain did maintain extensive spy networks and had planted saboteurs in the Federal Republic who were planning to take over Acapulco and launch attacks against aircraft factories in San Diego. Prompt action by the joint Mexican-U. S, counterintelligence forces nipped several such plots in the bud. The final straw was the sinking of a Mexican oil tanker, the Potero de Llano and in June 1942 Mexico declared war against the Axis.

Now the leaders of the Mexican military, seeking the glory that can only come to generals from war, began to clamour for an active part in the fighting. Even President Camacho is said to have expressed a desire to lead the Mexican Army into combat, saying that only the Presidency was keeping him from doing so.

However, only the already modernized Mexican Air Force was to actually engage in combat. Mexican pilots received additional training in the United States and in 1945 fought valiantly in the air war in the Phillipines. Only one squadron, Number 201, actually saw combat. Nicknamed "The Aztec Eagles," they flew P-47 Thunderbolt fighters and offered close ground support for U.S. and Philipino ground forces as they struggled to liberate the islands from the Japanese. Decorated by the United States, Mexico and the Phillipines, its 31 pilots and approximately 150 ground support personnel were the only Mexican military force to serve outside of Mexico. Of the squadron's 31 pilots, 5 were killed in action. Its personnel, both pilots and ground support elements certainly deserve to be regarded as heros by both Mexico and the United States.

Also unrecognized, untold numbers of Mexicans, particularly those with relatives in the U.S., flocked across the border and served in all branches of the U.S. military. How many of them were killed is unknown. For those who chose to become U.S. citizens, citizenship was automatic. However, over the years, many returned to Mexico despite their new citizenship.

The denial of Mexico as a safe harbor for German submarines was of great importance. Mexican oil also helped fuel the U.S. war machine. With over 6 million American men in the armed forces and thousands of women in the factories, Mexican agricultural workers kept the food chain moving and, as we have already noted, Mexican raw materials were vital to the war effort. The supply was secure from submarine attacks and did not tie up warships in convoy duty.

Finally, although they depended on U.S. help to do so, the determination of the Mexican Government to resist the forces that might well have created either a Fascist or Communist Government next door to the U.S., removed the threat of sabotage or across-the-border forays that would, in essence, have necessitated either an American invasion of Mexico or the deployment of large forces to guard its southern border. Either one of these alternatives would have seriously hampered America's march to victory.

We can only hope that the U.S. and the Allies will more publicly acknowledge Mexico's assistance during WW II. The Mexicans who shed their blood in the skies over the Philippines, as well as those who volunteered to fight for freedom under the Stars and Stripes deserve no less