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The American GI Forum Diálogo Volume 4 Number 1 Article 6 2000 The American GI Forum Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/dialogo Part of the Latin American Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation (2000) "The American GI Forum," Diálogo: Vol. 4 : No. 1 , Article 6. Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/dialogo/vol4/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for Latino Research at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in Diálogo by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. photo by: Roberto Carmona Roberto by: photo The A M E R IC A N G l F 0 R U M S T 0 R Y Among the millions of Gl's returning to veterans organization was founded on remains had just been returned from civilian life after World War ll, tens of March 26, 1948 in Corpus Christi, Texas, overseas nearly four years after he was thousands of Hispanic war veterans by Doctor Hector Perez-Garcia, a killed in action in the Philippines. came home looking for America and veteran of the Army Medical Corps the American Dream. As soldiers, during World War II, who rallied other The owner of the Rice Funeral Home in Hispanics distinguished themselves in Hispanic war veterans like Vincent T. Three Rivers, Texas, explained to private battle: at Bataan, Attu, North Africa, Ximenez (a combat veteran of the Longoria's widow that he would Europe, and the Pacific. Many died, African and European theaters of arrange for the soldier's burial in the many were awarded Congressional operations and a major at war's end) to town's segregated "Mexican" cemetery Medals of Honor, Distinguished Service take a stand for the rights of Hispanic but would not, as requested, allow use Crosses, Silver and Bronze Stars for valor war veterans as American veterans. of the chapel for the wake because in combat. Hispanics played a local "whites" would not like it. significant role in the allied victory that Organized initially to combat discrim­ made the United States the world's ination in housing, employment and When Dr. Garcia was informed of the most powerful nation. They knew this, education against Hispanic veterans in incident, he galvanized the meager and it changed them forever. Their Texas, the American Gl Forum quickly resources of the American Gl Forum (less return to the United States was marked spread throughout the Southwest. than a year old) and with the help of by an intense optimism in the American Within a year, 100 chapters of the Congressman Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr., and future their war actions had shaped and Forum were formed in Texas alone. former U.S. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, made possible. Then New Mexico and Colorado started the matter of Private Felix Longoria was chapters, followed by Arizona and laid to rest by burying him (with honors) But the American Dream proved illusive California. One state after another in Arlington National Cemetery. in those early post-war years. Hispanic forged the chain which is today the war veterans found themselves short- American Gl Forum of the United Since then, the American Gl Forum has shifted in the bounties they were States, linking Hispanic veterans worked consistently on behalf of entitled to and which other American together in common cause in thirty Hispanics in the areas of veteran's affairs, war veterans were receiving from a states and five-hundred chapters. education, civil rights, employment and grateful nation. The response of economic development. Hispanic war veterans was visionary: But the incident which catapulted the they created an organization. American Gl Forum into national For more information contact the Veterans prominence however, was the burial in Outreach Program, Inc.: 5933 W. 35th Street The American Gl Forum of the United 1949 of Private Felix Longoria, a Cicero, Illinois 60804. Phone: (708) 863-7220 States, the nation's first Hispanic Mexican-American solider whose Fax: (708) 863-7267..
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