Drafted into the war or came voluntarily, Hispanic Americans were a minority during World War ll and fought along many other men; and despite the discrimination that came along with it, the soldiers earned high respects as well.
Over View and Treatment (On the Field and Back Home)
There were almost over 500,000 Hispanic Americans serving in the armed forces during world war Two. 17 Hispanic American soldiers earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for their bravery during the years of war as well.
The Hispanic American members of the Armed Forces were treated just as American as the other soldiers on the field, and took pride in fighting for the country that they loved. Granted there was discrimination here and there but a lot less of it, especially when there were more pressing matters.
"I know I am a Mexican, but I know that I was born and raised here and I consider myself strictly an American. And anybody asks me what's my nationality- I'm a Mexican, but I'm still an American. And I'll fight for American regardless of who it is." -Pete Arias
However when they got back to their home states rather than fighting with their brothers in combat, there was still discrimination against their race and heritage. Not surprisingly, the soldiers found this to be 'deeply ironic and increasingly intolerable'. There were still signs up that still had rule over their freedom and there were still slurs that they were being called despite their heroic service.
This sort of discrimination/segregation began to lessen around 1954, ten years before the Civil Rights act. It wasn't perfect, but it was a step in the right direction.
E Company the 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment was a Mexican-American Air Assault Force made up of young Hispanic American men. They served in Italy during 1944 and fought against the Axis, also serving a key role in the liberation of Rome from Nazi occupation. They took many losses against German forces but were significantly successful.
"Company E was very special to me. There was nothing but people who looked like me, proud Mexican-Americans fighting for the country we loved." -Angel Ponce
Interview With Ernest Gallego In the link below, there is a video of a 2005 interview with the veteran. (Author of Diary Above) Highlights: Minute 1:45 (Landing in Naples, assigned a bomber unit) Minute 2:52 (Basic Training Description) Minute 3:50 (End of War) Minute 5:23 (After the War) Minute 6:04 (Memorable Experience)
Works Cited : //Forgotten No More: Army's Mexican-American World War 2 Unit// https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2015/08/18/forgotten-no-more-armys-mexican-american-world-war-ii-unit https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp-stories/loc.natlib.afc2001001.30208/#vhp:clip http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_democracy_latino.htm http://slideplayer.com/slide/4884115/ https://www.nps.gov/articles/latinoww2.htm http://hsp.org/sites/default/files/legacy_files/migrated/mexicanamericansandworldwarii.pdf