Essay On Marcario Garcia

MARCARIO GARCIA
JANUARY 20, 1920 ­ DECEMBER 24, 1972
FIRST IMMIGRANT TO RECEIVE MEDAL OF HONOR BORN IN MEXICO ­ ADOPTED TEXAS

Marcario Garcia was not born in Texas; rather his parents carried him across the border from Mexico to Texas as an infant. The family settled in Sugar Land, Texas, where they worked as low­paid farm workers and raised ten children. The land was originally owned by the Mexican government and was part of the land grant to Stephen F. Austin. Very early, sugarcane stalks from Cuba were brought to the area and a
sugar mill was built. The last sugarcane crop was harvested in 1928, when Macario
was only eight years old. Raw sugar was then imported to the Imperial Sugar Company refinery in Sugar Land. By the 1940s the population

had shrunk to only 1,500. Crop picking was hard in this area of Texas as the climate is humid subtropical. Young children usually worked alongside their parents. With only a grade­school education, Marcario might have spent the rest of his life working as a low­paid farmworker, but for the tragedy of Pearl Harbor. Macario was working on the Paul Schuman Ranch,
picking crops, when WWII began. In November 1942, 22­year­old Marcario changed his life when he walked into the Sugarland Recruiting Station and joined the United States Army. He was assigned to Company B, First Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment,
4th Infantry Division.

Two years later, on November 27, 1944, Marcario was a squad leader. His company was pinned down by a German machine­gun emplacement near Grosshau, Germany. Marcario was painfully wounded and the medics tried to evacuate him. He refused. Instead he single­handedly crawled forward, uphill and under sparse cover, toward the enemy emplacement. Marcario was alone against the enemy. “ Hurling grenades, he boldly assaulted the position, destroyed the gun, and with his rifle killed three of the enemy who attempted to escape. When he rejoined his company, a second machine­gun opened fire and again the intrepid soldier went forward, utterly disregarding his own safety. He stormed the position and destroyed the gun, killed

three more Germans, and captured four prisoners. He fought on with his unit until the objective was taken, and only then did he permit himself to be removed for medical care. Garcia’s conspicuous heroism, his inspiring, courageous conduct, and his complete disregard for his personal safety wiped out two enemy emplacements and enabled his company to advance and secure its objective” (Medal of Honor Citation). President Truman awarded the Medal of Honor to then Staff Sergeant Garcia on August 23, 1945, in the White House.

One month later Marcario traveled to his Texas home to see his parents.

Wearing his military uniform and hungry from his journey, he entered a hamburger restaurant in Sugar Land, Texas. The owner refused him service because he was Hispanic, and when Marcario objected, the owner began to attack the soldier with a baseball bat. The sheriff was called and the Medal of Honor recipient was thrown into jail. Paul Harvey devoted his radio program to the injustice, and this discriminatory act earned Sugar Land the title of Most Racist City. It also opened the nation's eyes to discrimination against Hispanics.

In 1947 Marcario proudly became a citizen of his adopted United States. He earned an education with the help of the G.I. Bill. After graduating, he worked for 25 years as a counselor for the Veterans Administration. He married Alicia Reyes in 1952 and raised three children. In 1968 he volunteered to go to Vietnam to counsel returning veterans on the benefits they could receive when they returned to the states.

Marcario had the honor of greeting and shaking hands with President Kennedy in the Rice Ballroom in Houston on November 21, 1963. That evening the president gave a speech to a diverse crowd of Hispanic WWII veterans, civil rights activists, and future political activists. Then Jacqueline Kennedy addressed the crowd in perfect Spanish. The next day Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas. Marcario and the nation mourned.

LEGACY:

● Macario Garcia Middle School in Sugar Land, Texas
● SGT. Marcario Garcia Street in Houston, Texas
● Marcario Garcia Reserve Center in Houston, Texas