Re: Hispanic veterans

[<Cfbernard@aol.com>]

Janet Valentine,

Not sure how much of what I am going to say is in public documents.  It is all in my memory.  I attended a Legion of Valor (MoH, DSC, Navy Cross)  meeting in Oakland, California while I was teaching at Berkeley.  A reporter from the Daily Cal was there and heard me say that Hispanics got twice the number of such decorations their per capita numbers would justify.  And no one wanted to GIVE such as a Jose Lopez such an award.  He earned it!  I also said something to the effect we should recruit as many "wet-backs" as we could get and assign them to the infantry.  I also said something else like: "don't attack Mexico; they'd win such a war."  All of this was from my observing a convincing number of hispanics serving as first rate riflemen in rifle squads.

The hispanic I left with a machine gun and three cans of ammunition to cover the withdrawal of my platoon from our abandoned situation with Task Force Smith on July 5th, 1950 followed my instructions to fire two and three round bursts until he ran out of ammo.  I could still hear him firing 30 minutes later.  He spent 37 months as a POW and and was awarded a DSC for his act.  His son tried to get this well merited award updated last year, but his father--now living in Mexico--would not allow him to do it.  I will send you my letters to the CS of the Army recommending this if his father allows this.

The hispanics we had in my own rifle company, to which I returned on 8 July, were a stand-out bunch.  They were warriors.  I am going to send this appraisal on to Task Force Smith, and our "Love" Company, 21st Infantry historian for their reaction and endorsement.

I had meant "wet-back" to be a complement for these reasons, and I still do.  My low level experience in Vietnam (67-69) reinforced what I learned in Korea.