Mexicans In the US Army

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Mexicans In the US Army

Posted: 9/20/2005 7:22:19 AM EDT

One of my uncles, who is Mexican, gained his US citizenship by fighting in the Korean War for the Army. I still don't know how exactly he managed that, but while I was doing some cursory research, I came across this:

June 06, 2005
José M. Lopez
José Mendoza Lopez, a retired Army master sergeant who single-handedly killed more than 100 German soldiers during World War II, died on May 16. Cause of death was not released. He was 94.

Born in Santiago Huitlan, Mexico, Lopez was orphaned at the age of eight. He made his way to Mission, Texas, where a local family let him sleep in their shed. (Doesn't exactly sound like he went through the proper channels to get here, but who knows, eh?) Lopez worked a variety of jobs to survive, and even boxed lightweight under the name "Kid Mendoza," then falsified his birth certificate to join the merchant marines.

Lopez enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942 and fought in the European theatre. He landed at Normandy a day after the June 6, 1944 invasion and was racing onto the beach when a bullet grazed his hip; the wound earned him a Purple Heart. Six months later, Lopez received a Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military accolade, for his heroic actions in the opening days of the Battle of the Bulge.

On Dec. 17, 1944, Lopez was a sergeant serving with the 23rd Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division. He and his men were outside Krinkelt, Belgium, when a German infantry and armor division attacked. Lopez jumped into a shallow hole in the snow-covered ground and used his heavy machine gun to mow down 10 German soldiers. He took three shell blasts from the German's Tiger tank and suffered a concussion, but continued to fight, shooting 25 more soldiers in the process.

Lopez then repositioned himself to fight off the Germans that were trying to get around his flank. He killed another 65 enemy soldiers in order to give the members of his unit time to retreat. Lopez returned to the site of the battle nearly 50 years later with journalist Bill Moyers and a PBS documentary film crew. When asked if he considered himself to be a brave man, Lopez said: "… I believe any man would do the same thing, anybody."

Lopez fought in Korea until a ranking officer found out he was a Medal of Honor recipient. He was then ordered to move to the rear and register the dead for burial. After returning to the states, Lopez worked as a recruiter and groundskeeper. He eventually became a supervisor and oversaw large crews of maintenance personnel. To honor his "gallantry beyond the call of duty," the city of Mission named a street and park after him

Posted: 9/20/2005 7:27:52 AM EDT

[#1]

[BtK] A Mexican Indian, how'd that be? [BtK]

<---------BtK

Posted: 9/20/2005 7:38:19 AM EDT

[#2]

He's a toughie alright! He earned his stay and God blessed his service to the USA.

Posted: 9/20/2005 7:41:39 AM EDT

[#3]

Sounds like a good man to me.

Posted: 9/20/2005 7:45:14 AM EDT

[#4]

Doesn't sound like a mexican to me, more like an American.

Posted: 9/20/2005 7:50:11 AM EDT

[#5]

Posted: 9/20/2005 7:50:31 AM EDT

[#6]

There's some good articles on Michael Yon's website about immigrant soldiers. They come from all over the world, enlist, and earn their citizenship.

I have a lot more respect for them than for a lot of the people who got lucky and were just born into it.

Found one: michaelyon.blogspot.com/2005/07/welcome-aboard.html

Posted: 9/20/2005 7:53:09 AM EDT

[#7]

Umm, if you're looking for sympathy about Mexicans even if they fought in the War, this is the wrong board for that! A lot of people here just dont want to hear about that stuff. too racist.

Posted: 9/20/2005 8:13:17 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Doesn't sound like a mexican to me, more like an American.

Well, it can get complicated, I suppose. Take my aforementioned uncle, for example: He holds US, Mexican and Venezuelan passports and all three countries consider him their citizen.

ETA: The rest of the folks living in this hemisphere consider themselves Americans as well. But even then I often have to remind Mexicans that they're North Americans.

Posted: 9/20/2005 8:17:50 AM EDT

[#9]

man, you look around the corps and just about every other swinging dick around here answers to the name "lopez" or "hernandez"!

used to be they were some of the best and most dedicated we had but lately, we been getting a lot of banger wannabees. the "cool" thing now is to claim you're from the barrios in east la or some shit like that when it used to be a disgrace to be a californian mexican. oh well, they clean up good and most of 'em get their shit together by the time they eas.

Posted: 9/20/2005 8:27:04 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
Doesn't sound like a mexican to me, more like an American.

A HUGE +1 and THEN some...

Posted: 9/20/2005 8:27:22 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Well, it can get complicated, I suppose. Take my aforementioned uncle, for example: He holds US, Mexican and Venezuelan passports and all three countries consider him their citizen. ETA: The rest of the folks living in this hemisphere consider themselves Americans as well. But even then I often have to remind Mexicans that they're North Americans.

Some of the top military/civilian slots require you to renounce your dual/triple citizenships and file the paperwork to prove it. Multiple citizenship is a way for foreign countries to hold onto the talent that left for the USA.

Posted: 9/20/2005 9:14:29 AM EDT

[#12]

when i was in bootcamp we had an eskimo kid from canada. now this kid was snow white with white hair and blue eyes (wtf) but his tribal membership afforded him dual US/Canadian citizenship and he had it in his head that he wanted to be a US Marine. he had never been to the US until he stepped off the plane in charleston. nice guy, i hope he made it.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Mexicans In the US Army

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