Special to El Rrun-Rrun
The Most Decorated Texan of WWI...was also an undocumented immigrant.
"Many of these non-American soldiers went on to prove that their bravery and dedication to the cause was of the highest order. Among these, one of the most highly decorated was a Mexican-born [undocumented] immigrant named Marcelino Serna, the first Mexican American to collect a Distinguished Service Cross."
When the U.S. entered World War One in 1917, it is estimated that roughly 500,000 people who joined the United States armed services were immigrants. According to the National Park Service, this amounted to 18 percent of U.S. troops.
From the memoirs of Sergeant Alvin York from Tennessee, one of the most highly decorated Americans who served in the U.S. forces during World War One, we can learn more about life for this diverse collection of people.
At first, he writes, he had been shocked by the fact that there were so many foreigners in his units: Italians, Poles, Irish, Greeks, and Mexicans. But, as he recollects, they soon became his buddies and he “learned to love them.”
Many of these non-American soldiers went on to prove that their bravery and dedication to the cause was of the highest order. Among these, one of the most highly decorated was a Mexican-born illegal immigrant named Marcelino Serna, the first Mexican American to collect a Distinguished Service Cross.
He migrated from his home country of Mexico to El Paso, Texas, in 1915, when he was almost 20 years old. After working illegally for two years, Serna was eventually arrested by Federal officials concerning his status as a citizen. While he waited to find out if he was to be deported back to Mexico, Serna decided that he would show his desire to become a U.S. citizen by volunteering for the army.
He received less than a month of training in Kansas, after which he was deployed with his infantry unit to Europe, to fight in the French trenches. He was part of the 89th Infantry Division. Serna did not speak much English and upon his arrival, his superiors immediately noted he was Mexican. They offered to discharge him from service, but Serna politely declined.
On the battle lines, he proved his courage as a soldier several times, his actions speaking for themselves as to why he was worth all the decorations he later collected. In one confrontation with enemy soldiers, his squad was attacked and 12 fellows were killed. Injured himself, Serna nevertheless proceeded with the fight, going after the attackers and capturing eight adversaries.
4 comments:
Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You all keep focusing on what happened in the past. Move on from it. Start to let go and keep going. Every race has faced hardship at some point in history.
Seriously you had to research back to the First World War of 1917 to find one illegal immigrant that did something right. What about the millions of illegals currently in this county who are doing everything wrong?
In every nationality we find the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is when people have nothing to lose that we learn what they are made of. For instance, the folk in the 911 plane that was heading towards the Pentagon. Those people when faced with death literally went down fighting.
Speaking of terrorist we have our own. Trump is destroying the White House.
Ugh 😣, WWI.. one the ugliest wars. Europe lost a lot of men in that era in the front lines just being mowed down by automatic fire and gas warfare
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