To the Line of Fire!

Contents

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pp. vii-

List of Illustrations

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pp. ix-

Acknowledgments

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pp. xi-

It is with great pleasure that I recognize those who contributed to the completion of this book. My research was funded almost entirely by the William P. Clements Department of History and Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University, for whose doctoral program in history this study originally served as my dissertation. I am especially grateful to...

Introduction

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pp. xiii-xix

During the summer of 1917, less than two months after Pres. Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, Jos� de la Luz Saenz, a twenty-nine-year-old schoolteacher and father of three from Dittlinger, Texas, a small company town in southeastern Comal County, joined ten million other Americans in registering for the first military draft in the United States since the Civil War. Passionate and idealistic, with dark skin...

Chapter One. Prelude

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pp. 1-18

What was happening in the Tejano community during World War I? Any study that proposes to answer this question must deal not only with the period of American involvement in the war but also with the thirty-three months that preceded it. From the beginning of the war on June 28, 1914, to April 6, 1917, when the United States finally joined the fray, the Tejano...

Chapter Two. The Call to Arms

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pp. 19-38

The call to arms that followed the declaration of war against Germany elicited varied responses from the Tejano community. Like other citizens, Mexican Americans demonstrated patriotism, but also disloyalty. The Mexican nationals who lived among them were no less divided. While some joined the American colors voluntarily or at least submitted willingly to...

Chapter Three. Surveillance

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pp. 39-56

On March 3, 1917, two days after word of the Zimmermann note’s interception reached the press, the New York Times hailed Mexico’s apparent rejection of an anti-American alliance with Germany, but warned its readers that the country and its president, Venustiano Carranza, “will still bear watching from this side of the border.”¹ Attitudes of this sort, along with...

Chapter Four. The Home Front [Includes Image Plates]

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pp. 57-74

Even as the government monitored Mexicans and Mexican Americans with a suspicious eye, contributions to the war effort poured in from the Tejano community, which still suffered occasionally from the violent spillover of the Mexican Revolution. Reflecting the divisions across the country, some Mexican Americans opposed the war, with a few even...

Chapter Five. Training Camp

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pp. 75-92

“The activity in this human beehive is indescribable,” marveled José de la Luz Saenz, who was eventually assigned to the Intelligence Section of the 360th Infantry, upon his arrival at Camp Travis in San Antonio. “Thousands upon thousands of men occupied with different tasks can be seen everywhere.”¹ At Camp Travis and other installations, new recruits received their...

Chapter Six. Over There

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pp. 93-110

The lives of Tejano servicemen following training camp were like those of most other men in the armed forces. Not everyone saw combat, but for those who did travel overseas to fight the experience was both eye opening and life changing. From the ship ride across the Atlantic to the last days in Europe as an occupation force, World War I for American troops was equal...

Chapter Seven. Aftermath

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pp. 111-129

Veterans of World War I returned home conquering heroes. Throughout the country, cities and towns staged homecomings and victory parades in tribute to their troops’ sacrifices overseas. Main Streets everywhere teemed with confetti and ticker tape. But disillusionment, not just glory and euphoria, awaited servicemen in the postwar era. For those of Mexican descent, the...

Conclusion

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pp. 131-135

Held on September 16, 1989, the ceremony honoring David Cantú Barkley as one of the country’s Hispanic Medal of Honor recipients was the result of pure chance. One day, after reading a piece in the San Antonio Express-News about a local Korean War hero, Rubén Hernández, Barkley’s grandnephew, contacted the story’s author, Jim Kenney, a member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Historical Society. At first concerned...

Notes

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pp. 137-162

Bibliography

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pp. 163-174

Index

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pp. 175-191