Pride and prejudice: America's four Mexican-born Medal of Honor recipients
Since the Civil War, the United States has bestowed its highest military award, the Medal of Honor, upon 3,525 members of the U.S. military who displayed "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty."
Sixty of those medals have gone to service members of Hispanic heritage. Four of those 60 men hold a special distinction: Born in Mexico, they were not citizens of the United States at the time of their service and sacrifice.
As noncitizens, they were not subject to the draft. They likely could have escaped military service. But they did not.
Although technically citizens of Mexico, these four men fought, shed blood and nearly died for America in World War II.
In the span of four months, from late 1944 through the spring of 1945, each of these men fought with valor and distinction through some of the heaviest fighting in the European theater. They suffered injuries and saved lives. They killed and captured the enemy. Their citations recount acts of heroism in the face of machine gun fire, land mines, overwhelming enemy numbers, bombs, mortars and artillery barrages. They tell of enemy positions taken or destroyed, opponents captured or killed, lives saved.
Along the way, because of their Mexican heritage, these men suffered casual, physical and institutional racism. In each case, they persevered and stood tall. Their gallant actions, and the official acknowledgement of those actions, represent an American history that deserves to be remembered beyond Memorial Day.
The first story belongs to U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Marcario Garcia, a native of Villa de Castanos, Mexico, in the state of Coahuila, and a resident of Texas at the time he was drafted. Fighting with Company B, 22nd Infantry, Garcia distinguished himself in conflict with the enemy in the vicinity of Grosshau, Germany, in November 1944. Sgt. Garcia's official citation reads: "While an acting squad leader, he single-handedly assaulted two enemy machine gun emplacements, killed six enemy and captured four prisoners."
On Aug. 23, 1945, President Harry Truman presented Garcia with the Medal of Honor at a ceremony in the White House. Barely a month later, Garcia received the kind of treatment all too common for people of color in America at that time. At a restaurant just south of Houston, he was denied service because he was Hispanic. Words were likely exchanged, and the restaurant owner beat Garcia with a bat. Police made no arrests and initially filed no charges.
The incident might have been forgotten entirely, but famed national columnist Walter Winchell took the story public, assailing Sugar Land, Texas, as "the most racist city in America." The negative publicity led local authorities to file criminal charges — against Garcia. This brought further media scrutiny and public support for Garcia, especially from the Hispanic community. Such a spotlight on discriminatory policies faced by Hispanics caused prosecutors to repeatedly postpone the case against Garcia before dropping the charges entirely.
The second story is that of Pvt. Pedro Cano, a native of La Morita, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, who resided in Texas at the time of his service. He received the Medal of Honor for his service with the 4th Infantry Division in actions against strong German defenses in the Hurtgen Forest, near Schevenhutte, Germany, over the course of two days in December 1944.
Initially denied the Medal of Honor, Cano unceremoniously received a Distinguished Service Cross in the mail. He would have likely borne that indignity quietly, but his friends pointed out that Army custom called for a medal of such distinction to be pinned on Cano's chest in an official ceremony. Local American Legion posts pressed the Army for a medal ceremony for Cano.
Presenting the Distinguished Service Cross at the medal ceremony, Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright called Cano's citation one of the finest he had ever read. He said that Cano should’ve possibly received "a higher award [the Medal of Honor], but it is beyond my control."
The only reason for the slight was Cano's ethnicity. And he was not alone in being denied the Medal of Honor because of his Mexican heritage. Efforts to right the wrongs against soldiers overlooked for the Medal of Honor due to their racial or ethnic backgrounds began in 2002, when Congress passed the Defense Authorization Act. A 12-year review revealed that 24 veterans had been denied the Medal of Honor due to their Jewish, Hispanic or African American ethnicity.
The injustice done to those men was addressed in March 2014, when President Barack Obama bestowed the Medal of Honor upon all 24 of those Army veterans. Pvt. Cano's eldest daughter, Dominga, was there, in the East Room of the White House, to accept the medal on her father's behalf.
The third story belongs to Master Sgt. Jose Lopez, a native of Santiago Ihuitlan Plumas, Oaxaca, Mexico. Sgt. Lopez received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of the Bulge, near Krinkelt, Belgium, in December 1944.
Sgt. Lopez's citation states that he "single-handedly assaulted two enemy machine gun emplacements.” He was also “injured in action while charging an enemy stronghold resulting in the capture of eight enemy soldiers” and “single-handedly repulsed a German infantry attack, killing at least 100 enemy troops.” Furthermore, he was “almost solely responsible for allowing Company K to avoid being enveloped, to withdraw successfully and to give other forces coming up in support time to build a line which repelled the enemy drive."
Before he joined the Army, Lopez was traveling to California from Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. When he arrived in Los Angeles, the authorities demanded that he prove he was not Japanese, as they had asserted. There's no indication that Lopez's Anglo companions were similarly treated.
The last of our heroes is Sgt. Silvestre Santana Herrera, a native of Camargo, Chihuahua, Mexico, who earned the Medal of Honor near Mertzwiller, France, in March 1945, fighting with Company E, 142nd Infantry, 36th Infantry Division. His citation states that he was "injured in action while charging an enemy stronghold, and continuing to fight, despite losing both feet to land mines. [The] magnificent courage, extraordinary heroism and willing self-sacrifice displayed by Pvt. Herrera resulted in the capture of two enemy strongpoints and the taking of eight prisoners."
When told that his Mexican birth exempted him from being drafted by the U.S. military, he chose to go anyway, even though he had a family and a child on the way. He said he "didn't want anybody to die in my place” and “felt that I had my adopted country that had been so nice to me." Besides, he later added, "I am a Mexican American and we have a tradition. We're supposed to be men, not sissies."
These men were indeed men. Though they suffered the indignations of racism, bigotry and segregation, all four of these great men chose America. They all gained U.S. citizenship, and remained loyal and patriotic Mexican Americans to the end. For their exceptional service, their perseverance and their patriotism, they deserve to be remembered during and long after Memorial Day.