the world beyond the barrio and the colo-
nia and more determined to demand the
rights due to them as Americans.
Hispanic Heroes
Hispanic Americans participated in all
campaigns of World War II, in both the
European and the Pacific theaters. Many
Hispanic Americans were stationed in the
Philippines, where their knowledge of
Spanish assisted them in communicating
with Filipinos, who knew the language
from the days when their islands were a
Spanish colony. Two units made up of
Mexican Americans from New Mexico,
Texas, and Arizona fought in the Battle of
Bataan in the Philippines. Hispanic
Americans also fought on the beaches of
Normandy during the D-Day invasion of
June 1944.
Relative to their share of the popula-
tion, Hispanic Americans served in
disproportionate numbers in combat divi-
sions and earned a disproportionate share
of military honors. Although not all
Hispanics served on the front lines, a
great number did serve as infantrymen,
marines, paratroopers, and tank corps-
men. Seventeen won the Congressional
Medal of Honor, five posthumously. An
all-Hispanic infantry company, Company
E of the 141st Regiment of the 36th
Division, was one of the war’s most deco-
rated units.
Two stories of Medal of Honor win-
ners, one from Europe, the other from the
Pacific, indicate the kind of courage
Hispanic Americans showed in the war.
José M. Lopez, a native of Mission, Texas,
serving as a sergeant in the 23rd Infantry,
Second Infantry Division, won his Medal
of Honor for uncommon valor near
Krinkelt, Belgium, on December 17, 1944.
When his company was in danger of being
enveloped by an advancing regiment of
German infantry, Lopez picked up his
heavy machine gun and moved it to one
hazardous position after another, to better
repel the advance. Almost single-handed-
ly, he held off the enemy long enough to
allow his comrades to withdraw. In the
process, he killed at least 100 enemy
troops, all the while ignoring the threat
from tank, artillery, and small-arms fire.
José Lopez survived to tell of his
bravery, but another hero was not so for-
tunate. On April 25, 1945, David M.
Gonzales, a native of Pacoma, California,
was serving in Luzon, Philippine Islands,
as a private first class in the 127th
Infantry, 32nd Infantry Division. His
company was pinned down by Japanese
fire, and a bomb buried five comrades
under rock and sand. Private Gonzales
rushed forward through the hail of enemy
bullets to help his commanding officer
dig out the men. The officer was killed at
once by machine-gun fire, but Gonzales
kept digging, disregarding the enormous
danger. He managed to free three men
from being buried alive before being hit
by gunfire and mortally wounded. He was
posthumously awarded the Congressional
Medal of Honor for his action.Sleepy Lagoon and the
Zoot Suit RiotsDespite the sacrifices Hispanic Americans
made in the defense of their country in
World War II, two wartime incidents in
Los Angeles reminded them that the
struggle for full acceptance as Americans
was far from over. Both of these inci-
dents—the Sleepy Lagoon case and the
Zoot Suit Riots—were related to an item
of apparel called the zoot suit.
The zoot suit combined a long coat
and high-waisted, tight-cuffed pants, and
was usually worn with a broad-brimmed
hat. A ducktail haircut and hanging watch
chain completed the look. In the early
1940s, among others, Mexican-American
youths known as pachucos liked to wear
zoot suits. For Anglo-Americans infected
with war-time xenophobia and egged on
by a sensationalist press, the zoot suit was
associated with youth gangs, hooligans,
and crime.
In August 1942, when a young
Mexican American named José Díaz was
found dead on a rural road one day after
a gang fight at the Sleepy Lagoon swim-
ming hole in Los Angeles, local newspa-
pers and the police accused young zoot
suiters. Twenty-two Mexican-American
youths who belonged to a gang involved
in the fight were tried for the crime.
Despite a stunning lack of evidence and
flagrant violations of their civil rights, 12
of the defendants were found guilty of
murder in January 1943. Supporters
formed a Sleepy Lagoon Defense
Committee, and nearly two years later, in
October 1944, an appeals court reversedTHE AGE OF WORLD WARS 159“As a veteran you have
equal rights like everybody
else, so it gave Mexican
Americans new opportunities
to go back to school or get
benefits. It gave us a feeling
of being equal.”—Carlos Samarron, San Antonio,
Texas, on his experience as a
U.S. Marine