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Speaker 1: the Mariachi band played as John F. Kennedy and his
Speaker 1: wife Jacqueline made their way through the cheering crowd. It
Speaker 1: was early on a warm fall evening in nineteen sixty three,
Speaker 1: and the ballroom at the Rice Hotel in Houston, Texas
Speaker 1: was packed with people. They were all there to cheer
Speaker 1: their president. He was handsome as usual in a dark
Speaker 1: blue suit, his eyes sparkling, shaking hands as he moved
Speaker 1: towards the stage. Jackie followed close behind, elegant in a
Speaker 1: black velvet jacket and her signature triple strand of pearls.
Speaker 1: If there was anything more glamorous than this couple, the
Speaker 1: people of Houston hadn't seen it. It was November twenty
Speaker 1: first nineteen sixty three. The next day, Kennedy would be
Speaker 1: shot and killed in that faithful motorcade in Dallas. But
Speaker 1: on this evening, one moment out of the last few
Speaker 1: he had alive on Earth, he was making his way
Speaker 1: forward through the room, following an honor guard of men,
Speaker 1: snaking through the adoring throng of women with big hairdoes
Speaker 1: and men with skinny ties. There was one man in
Speaker 1: the honor guard that everyone in that room knew, Sergeant
Speaker 1: Maccadio Garcia, a hero of World War II, the first
Speaker 1: Mexican citizen to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Sergeant
Speaker 1: Garcia and the rest of the group reached the dais
Speaker 1: at the back of the room. The mariachi band leader
Speaker 1: shook the first lady's hand, and then the crowd and
Speaker 1: the musicians got quiet. Sergeant Garcia took his seat behind
Speaker 1: the president, and JFK stepped to the microphone.
Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, my wife and I are very proud to.
Speaker 1: Come up to this meeting hall. You sad out the
Speaker 1: world would change the very next day, But Maccadio Garcia
Speaker 1: with JFK on stage that night, because he had changed
Speaker 1: the world as well. I'm Jr. Martinez and this is
Speaker 1: Medal of Honor Stories of Courage. The Medal of Honor
Speaker 1: is the highest military decoration in the United States, awarded
Speaker 1: for gallantry and bravery in combat at the risk of life,
Speaker 1: above and beyond the call of duty. Each candidate must
Speaker 1: be approved all the way up the chain of command,
Speaker 1: from the supervisory officer in the field to the White House.
Speaker 1: This show is about those heroes, what they did, what
Speaker 1: it meant, and what their stories tell us about the
Speaker 1: nature of courage and sacrifice. This episode is about Maccardio Garcia,
Speaker 1: the man sitting behind JFK that night in Houston. He
Speaker 1: came from enormous poverty, migrating to Texas with his family
Speaker 1: as a toddler, working in the cotton fields as a child,
Speaker 1: he stepped up when his country asked him to go
Speaker 1: to war. He was a hero of remarkable grint. But
Speaker 1: what happened to him between the day President Truman hung
Speaker 1: the Medal of Honor around his neck and the moment
Speaker 1: he stepped onto that dais behind JFK was a struggle
Speaker 1: equal to anything he met on the battlefield. On a
Speaker 1: core level, Macgadio's story is about what it means to
Speaker 1: make a country your home, what we owe our country,
Speaker 1: and what our country owes us. It's also the story
Speaker 1: of progress, the kind of progress that outlasted any one person,
Speaker 1: whether they're a Medal of Honor recipient or a president.
Speaker 1: Because if there's one thing Makgadio gotta see I did,
Speaker 1: it was to keep pushing into battle, into the hopes
Speaker 1: of a better future, with relentless heroic determination to never
Speaker 1: ever go back. The Hurricane Forest sits at the far
Speaker 1: western border of Germany, straight.
Speaker 3: From the German folk tales of the brothers Grim.
Speaker 1: It was November of nineteen forty four. The fairytale Forest
Speaker 1: was now a battlefield, a.
Speaker 3: Name that would come to symbolize the long drawn, heartbreak
Speaker 3: and despair of war as surely as its fairy tale
Speaker 3: counterparts had enshrined the nightmares of childhood.
Speaker 1: The men of the twenty second Infantry Regiment of the
Speaker 1: US Army had one mission at the Hurricane Forest, to
Speaker 1: fight their way through it, pushing deeper into Nazi territory.
Speaker 1: It would be some of the most difficult terrain of
Speaker 1: the entire European theater of the war, and some of
Speaker 1: the hardest fighting in that forest would fall to a
Speaker 1: young soldier in Company B of that regiment, Macadio. Gotta
Speaker 1: see you. Maccadio had been born in Via de Castaignos, Mexico,
Speaker 1: in the state of Coruila, just a handful of hours
Speaker 1: from the Texas border, but he spent almost all his
Speaker 1: life until now, of course, in Sugarland, Texas, a ranching
Speaker 1: and farming community outside of Houston. He had never seen
Speaker 1: anything like the Hurrican Forest. For one thing, the conifer
Speaker 1: trees were so tall and tightly clustered that it felt
Speaker 1: like twilight even during the middle of the day. The
Speaker 1: very few roads that existed in the forest were laden
Speaker 1: with mines, so tanks and other vehicles couldn't use them.
Speaker 1: That meant that the American gis had to travel mostly
Speaker 1: by foot, carrying whatever they needed. And the weather was
Speaker 1: just awful, soaking the soldiers in a near constant makes
Speaker 1: of snow, sleet, and rain.
Speaker 3: The winter became as vicious an enemy as any lurking
Speaker 3: behind the trees in the Hurricane Forest. It was more
Speaker 3: where battle tactics lost their meeting, where gains were still
Speaker 3: measured in yards and feet.
Speaker 1: In them, the Germans had plotted every acre of the forest,
Speaker 1: so they knew exactly where to fire their artillery, and
Speaker 1: when a shell hit it wasn't just the steel shrapnel
Speaker 1: that rained down on the gis, the trees themselves exploded,
Speaker 1: creating lethal burst of splinters and wood, along with falling
Speaker 1: trunks that were big enough to crush a man. Macadio
Speaker 1: was in one of the bleakest scenarios imaginable, and he
Speaker 1: was fighting on behalf of a country where he wasn't
Speaker 1: actually a citizen. He was still a a Mexican citizen,
Speaker 1: but in the eyes of the US Army he was American,
Speaker 1: and I think in his own eyes too. Macgaudio was
Speaker 1: twenty four, just about five foot four, with thick, dark
Speaker 1: hair and high cheekbones. He had a contagious grin, but
Speaker 1: while small in size, he had quickly proved himself to
Speaker 1: be an intrepid soldier with amazing grit and determination. He'd
Speaker 1: been wounded on June nineteenth in France and refused to
Speaker 1: be evacuated to the hospital, insisting on staying with his unit.
Speaker 1: For that, he was awarded his first purple Heart. Then
Speaker 1: in September he was awarded a bronze Star after he
Speaker 1: snuck into German territory on a scouting mission, staying for
Speaker 1: three hours, risking discovery and death every minute he was there.
Speaker 1: Then he received another Bronze Star after he crept up
Speaker 1: to an enemy machine gun. Nest cut the phone line
Speaker 1: and took the German gunner prisoner. Macgadiel had the reputation
Speaker 1: of being completely fearless, always pushing the boundaries as close
Speaker 1: to the enemy as he could get. He and the
Speaker 1: army were fighting their way east through France to Belgium,
Speaker 1: through Belgium to Germany. This newsreel from the time sums
Speaker 1: it up.
Speaker 4: It was slugging and slogging showed much grabbing enough when
Speaker 4: you could.
Speaker 1: Hyped.
Speaker 4: It was a hell of a way to see France,
Speaker 4: but we sure covered ground.
Speaker 1: The Nazis were in retreat and winning the war felt
Speaker 1: like it was within the Allies grasp, But Hitler had
Speaker 1: ordered his army to hold the line at the Hurtkin Forest.
Speaker 1: So now Makadio and the rest of the twenty second
Speaker 1: were facing a situation where the enemy was dug in,
Speaker 1: hiding behind trees, and where every foot of ground came
Speaker 1: at a high cost. In fact, the twenty second infantry
Speaker 1: would ultimately suffer more than twenty seven hundred casualties, eighty
Speaker 1: five percent of its normal complement of soldiers. All that
Speaker 1: loss to take six thousand yards of forest and a
Speaker 1: single village. That village was called Grosshouse, but village doesn't
Speaker 1: do it justice. It was a heavily defended strong point
Speaker 1: filled with waiting enemy soldiers. By November twenty seventh, the
Speaker 1: infantry had been trying to take the village four days,
Speaker 1: getting beaten back mercilessly each time. Now it was Makkadio's
Speaker 1: company's turn to try to move forward and retake that ground.
Speaker 1: He and the other hundred some odd men and Company
Speaker 1: B knew what they were facing, artillery, machine guns on
Speaker 1: the high ground and an enemy that had been ordered
Speaker 1: to not give an inch. Actually, the situation was even
Speaker 1: worse than it had been in the days before, because
Speaker 1: the Germans knew exactly what was coming. Company B could
Speaker 1: barely make any headway. One platoon went forward and seventeen
Speaker 1: of the eighteen men were killed or wounded. The next
Speaker 1: platoon suffered a similar fate. By now Company B was
Speaker 1: reduced to only thirty five men. Yet when it was
Speaker 1: time for Maccadio's platoon to enter the battle. He volunteered
Speaker 1: to go first, as he later said, quote, I was
Speaker 1: acting squad leader and I just as soon do it
Speaker 1: as asked somebody else to. He and another soldier, Charles Edwards,
Speaker 1: headed towards the woods around the village. They had gotten
Speaker 1: within twenty yards when all of a sudden, a machine
Speaker 1: gun on a hill in front of them started firing.
Speaker 1: They were pinned down. Mcgadil looked to his side and
Speaker 1: saw Edwards get hit by a bullet in the head.
Speaker 1: He died instantly, and then mccadil was shot as well,
Speaker 1: right in the shoulder. The pain must have been excruciating,
Speaker 1: but mccatiol refused to go back to safety to be
Speaker 1: evacuated for medical help. Instead, he crawled forward alone up
Speaker 1: the hill and through the brush, inch by painful inch.
Speaker 1: He reached a spot near the enemy's machine gun nest
Speaker 1: and surprised a German soldier. Maccadio opened fire. The German
Speaker 1: did too. A bullet hit mcgadio in the foot, but
Speaker 1: he shot the German dead. Macgadio had taken two bullets.
Speaker 1: Now it didn't stop him. He kept moving forward toward
Speaker 1: the machine gun nest. That had shot down edwards. As
Speaker 1: he later said, quote, I did not know the wound
Speaker 1: was that serious. I was numb, I think, And besides,
Speaker 1: we were moving forward and it was not the time
Speaker 1: to stop. Mcgadiel got close to the machine gun nest
Speaker 1: and then he took out a grenade, pulled the pin
Speaker 1: and hurled it at the gunners. It exploded, destroying the gun.
Speaker 1: Three Germans came running out. Mcgadio aimed his rifle and
Speaker 1: killed those men as well. One enemy position taken out.
Speaker 1: Then mcgadio started back down the hill towards his company.
Speaker 1: He reached safety, but right as he began to report
Speaker 1: to his company commander, a second machine gun open fire.
Speaker 1: Without a moment of hesitation, macgadio turned around and raced
Speaker 1: towards the shots back up the hill, not thinking about
Speaker 1: his own safety. Just about holding the line, he stormed
Speaker 1: the enemy position, grenade in hand. He had bullets in
Speaker 1: his foot and shoulder. He was exhausted, he was also enraged.
Speaker 1: He threw the grenade and it hit its mark. He
Speaker 1: killed three more enemy soldiers and destroyed the gun in
Speaker 1: the blast, and he captured four Germans too. As mcgadio
Speaker 1: came back down the hill toward Company B. The other
Speaker 1: Gis cheered and screamed. His boot was filled with blood.
Speaker 1: His shoulder must have been searing with pain. He was
Speaker 1: a mess, but he still refused medical help. He wanted
Speaker 1: to stay with his men to fight by their side.
Speaker 1: Because Macgadio had cleared those machine gun nests, two more
Speaker 1: companies from the twenty second were able to charge up
Speaker 1: the hill and take it. The cost had been high,
Speaker 1: but the men of the twenty second had finally made progress.
Speaker 1: Margadio had held the line. Margadio spent almost six weeks
Speaker 1: recovering from his wounds in England, but the moment he
Speaker 1: was well enough to go, he asked to be returned
Speaker 1: to the front line. But by that point it was
Speaker 1: clear that the Allies would defeat the Nazis soon enough.
Speaker 1: Macgadio was rotated back to the US in March of
Speaker 1: nineteen forty five. That April, General George Patten signed off
Speaker 1: on his recommendation for the Medal of Honor, noting Macgadio's
Speaker 1: quote courageous leadership and supreme devotion to duty. Macgadio couldn't
Speaker 1: wait to get home to Sugarland. Texas. He had sent
Speaker 1: every penny of his pay back to his family. He
Speaker 1: knew how much they needed it. He was one of
Speaker 1: ten children. The entire family were farm laborers, as was
Speaker 1: true for most rural households like theirs, The kids were
Speaker 1: expected to start working in the cotton fields as soon
Speaker 1: as they reached school age. So a medal of honor ceremony,
Speaker 1: something that placed them and their son in the national spotlight,
Speaker 1: was never something they'd expected. His friend se Hernandez remembers.
Speaker 3: It, well, they didn't, not worrying English, and they were
Speaker 3: some question in their minds.
Speaker 5: Where they could even dress about the White House. So
Speaker 5: Caro Gazia the older brothers went in their place.
Speaker 1: He took his brother Carlos to the White House as
Speaker 1: his date. Then it was back to Texas and more events.
Speaker 1: On September sixth, mcgaudio greeted reporters and various Houston dignitaries
Speaker 1: at a reception in his honor, but he was more
Speaker 1: than an hour late, racing into the festivities breathless and
Speaker 1: soaking wet, he had to hitchhike all the way from
Speaker 1: sugar Land. He apologized and said, quote, I'm a country boy,
Speaker 1: you know the star treatment had to have been overwhelming.
Speaker 1: Mcgaudia was now the first Mexican citizen to be held
Speaker 1: up as a perfect example of American courage. But I
Speaker 1: think Macgadio must have already considered himself fully American. He
Speaker 1: lived in Texas since he was three, and in the war,
Speaker 1: in the army, Mexican born soldiers like Macatio were treated
Speaker 1: as equal to white ones. They weren't segregated. More than
Speaker 1: half a million men of Mexican ancestry had joined the
Speaker 1: ranks of the services during World War II, and of those,
Speaker 1: fifteen thousand, including Makatio, were actually Mexican citizens. At the
Speaker 1: start of the war, Mexico had agreed that the United
Speaker 1: States military was allowed to draft Mexican nationals to serve
Speaker 1: in the armed forces. In nineteen forty, Congress required that
Speaker 1: foreign born people who declared their intention to become citizens
Speaker 1: would be subject to military service. Mexicans could file a
Speaker 1: form of exemption, but if they did register for the draft,
Speaker 1: it would secure them US residents and ensure them US
Speaker 1: citizenship after they completed their military service. Putting themselves in
Speaker 1: harms way for America was a risk that many were
Speaker 1: willing to take in exchange for full acceptance as citizens
Speaker 1: in the United States, and the risks were high. Of
Speaker 1: the fifteen thousand Mexican nationals who joined the armed forces
Speaker 1: in the war, one thousand, four hundred and ninety two
Speaker 1: died or were injured, taken prisoner, or disappeared. After that
Speaker 1: kind of sacrifice, Mexican veterans like Macadio returned home, assuming
Speaker 1: that the United States would see them the way they
Speaker 1: felt inside, as full fledged Americans. But Texas wasn't the
Speaker 1: Army ernest Idea, a fellow Mexican American Army vet remembers
Speaker 1: going from the service back to South Texas.
Speaker 5: When I came back, we were considered second class citizens,
Speaker 5: even though we had spent not only our lives, but
Speaker 5: four years of our lives in the Armies fighting for
Speaker 5: the people back home.
Speaker 1: Mcgadil's little brother, Loupe Gotticia, was only two when mcgadil
Speaker 1: returned from the war, but he remembers how segregated it
Speaker 1: was in Texas, not only then but for years, and
Speaker 1: discrimination wasn't illegal either. It was common to see signs
Speaker 1: saying no dogs, no Negroes, no Mexicans.
Speaker 6: And that era Hispanics and Blacks were not allowed eating
Speaker 6: here in restaurants, the whites always had priority.
Speaker 1: It was not easy.
Speaker 6: That always went on for a long time.
Speaker 1: Mcgadio had just come off of one of the most
Speaker 1: exhilarating moments of his life, meeting the President of the
Speaker 1: United States being honored for his bravery. He was about
Speaker 1: to collide headlong with one of the realities of the
Speaker 1: country he'd returned to. Late on the night of September tenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen forty five, just four days after that event with
Speaker 1: the Houston dignitaries, mcgadio and a friend got off the
Speaker 1: bus from Fort Hood in Richmond, Texas. There was a
Speaker 1: low slung restaurant there on the side of the highway.
Speaker 1: The words chicken Dinners were spelled out in big block
Speaker 1: letters along the building side. It was called the Oasis Cafe.
Speaker 1: Mcgaudio wanted a cup of coffee, maybe something to eat.
Speaker 1: There weren't many places opened that late on a Monday night,
Speaker 1: but the Oasis Cafe was still serving. Mcgaudio's friend told him, Hey,
Speaker 1: let's not go in there. The friend knew the Oasis
Speaker 1: didn't welcome Mexican Americans, but according to his brother. Mcgaudio thought,
Speaker 1: how can they turn me down. I'm wearing my uniform
Speaker 1: and the medal of honor. He pushed opened the door
Speaker 1: and walked in.
Speaker 6: Says he had the nation's highest award in the Congression
Speaker 6: of Metlajuana. He figured that a cup of coffee wouldn't
Speaker 6: be that much trouble, but they refused to serve him,
Speaker 6: regardless of his decorations.
Speaker 1: Here's Ernest again.
Speaker 5: The restaurant has said, I don't give a dan what
Speaker 5: he's wearing. He's a Mexican and I will not serve him.
Speaker 1: For the record, the woman who owned the restaurant insisted
Speaker 1: that mcgadiol was drunk and belligerent and that's why he
Speaker 1: was denied service. Her son, Lou Payton, was there that night.
Speaker 1: He was only seventeen at the time. He missed the
Speaker 1: initial exchange between his mother and Magadio, but he doesn't
Speaker 1: deny that the Oasis Cafe wasn't quote for Mexican Americans.
Speaker 7: We had very few blacks or Mexican argons come in
Speaker 7: and ask for service because we didn't cater to their needs.
Speaker 7: We didn't have their kind of music, we didn't have
Speaker 7: their kind of.
Speaker 1: Food, which let's be honest, doesn't sound particularly welcoming. Whatever
Speaker 1: the truth that mcgatiel was told to leave because of
Speaker 1: his ethnicity, or because he was drunk, or both, the
Speaker 1: oasis exploded in violence. Punches were thrown, glasses broken, salt
Speaker 1: and pepper shakers, ketchup bottles. Everything suddenly seemed to be
Speaker 1: flying through the air. From outside, mcgaudiol's friend could hear
Speaker 1: the shattering and the yelling. He caught glimpses of the
Speaker 1: commotion through the long line of windows that stretched across
Speaker 1: the front of the cafe, pouring their light onto the
Speaker 1: darkened parking lot where he stood.
Speaker 5: These guys tore up the brushroom.
Speaker 1: Mcgadil had walked through bullets in the and force, only
Speaker 1: now to be held down on the counter of the
Speaker 1: oasis and hit by a baseball bat. And then he
Speaker 1: was dragged outside into the night and the police were
Speaker 1: called to arrest him.
Speaker 6: He was taken into the Counta Dale and held there
Speaker 6: until some higher army authorities came and had him released again.
Speaker 1: Denying Mexican American service wasn't illegal. In fact, it was
Speaker 1: so common that the newspapers didn't even pick up the story. Initially,
Speaker 1: The editors of one local paper said they didn't want
Speaker 1: to cover the story because they didn't want to embarrass
Speaker 1: a war hero. But possibly this kind of thing was
Speaker 1: just so unremarkable that it didn't merit the paper and ink.
Speaker 1: But mcgadio was not just another person. He was a
Speaker 1: Medal of Honor recipient, a person to whom extraordinary thing
Speaker 1: had happened and were about to happen again. A local
Speaker 1: lawyer and activist named John J. Herrera found out about
Speaker 1: mcgaudio's situation. He surely recognized a perfect test case to
Speaker 1: fight back against anti Mexican discrimination, so he took on
Speaker 1: mcgaudio's cause. The first thing Henda did was call the press.
Speaker 1: Pretty soon the national columnist Walter Winchell picked up the story.
Speaker 1: If you never heard of Walter Winchell, he was the
Speaker 1: voice of the country. Everyone listened to Winchell, and now
Speaker 1: you're about to heads up. He gets some of the
Speaker 1: details wrong, but he gets the feeling exactly right.
Speaker 8: Attention to Mistermissige the United States, an American soldier recently
Speaker 8: decorated with the Congressional Medal of Honor by the President
Speaker 8: of the United States, was terribly beaten with a baseball
Speaker 8: back in Sugarland, Texas. This hero, who fought for our
Speaker 8: country and won the highest award our people can get
Speaker 8: to any man, is named Sergeant Marcio Gotia, a Mexican.
Speaker 8: The elected attack took place at a soft drink pala
Speaker 8: where Sargeant Gosha try to buy a soft drink. He
Speaker 8: was refused service although he was wearing the United States
Speaker 8: uniform at the time. When Sergeant Gosha protested, the beating
Speaker 8: with the baseball bat followed.
Speaker 1: And now here is the part that made the local
Speaker 1: politicians of Fort Ben County, Texas and the rest of
Speaker 1: America perk up their ears.
Speaker 8: The persons responsible for this disgraceful assault could hardly be Texans,
Speaker 8: and Texas has too many sons wearing the Congressional Medal
Speaker 8: of Honor to permit any homegrown fascist to spatter it
Speaker 8: with any hero's blood.
Speaker 1: But things only got worse from Macadio because the ensuing
Speaker 1: press was absolutely terrible both of Fort Ben and Suddenly
Speaker 1: those local politicians needed to put the heat on someone
Speaker 1: other than themselves. And that is why in October of
Speaker 1: nineteen forty five, after returning home from Washington, where he
Speaker 1: received his honorable discharge from the Army. Macgadio was formerly
Speaker 1: charged with criminal assault and battery. Almost instantly, the case
Speaker 1: became a rallying point for Mexican Americans in Texas and beyond.
Speaker 1: Herea was involved with the League of the United Latin
Speaker 1: American Citizens or LULAC, at that point, the largest Latino
Speaker 1: civil rights organization in the country. He started raising money
Speaker 1: for mcgadio's defense and using what happened at the Oasis
Speaker 1: to bring attention to the discrimination against Latinos and Texas.
Speaker 1: People all over the country sent money to support the defense.
Speaker 1: The prosecutors of Fort Benn County refused to back down.
Speaker 1: The trial went forward, but it had to be postponed
Speaker 1: again and again because the venues weren't big enough to
Speaker 1: accommodate all the media who wanted to attend. In the
Speaker 1: midst of this legal wrangling, maccadio flew to Mexico City
Speaker 1: to receive the Medito Militare, the top honor from military
Speaker 1: service in Mexico. At the ceremony, Manuel Avila Camacho, the
Speaker 1: President of Mexico, proudly announced that quote soldiers of Mexican
Speaker 1: origin are the best fighters in the world. The addition
Speaker 1: of one more medal to macgadio's chest brought the case
Speaker 1: another round of publicity, and then in June, supposedly because
Speaker 1: Harry Truman himself stepped in on maccadio's behalf, his case
Speaker 1: got a new lead defense attorney, James Alred, the former
Speaker 1: governor of Texas, and soon enough the charges against mcgadio
Speaker 1: were finally dropped. Once again, mcgadio had held the line
Speaker 1: and prevailed. Mcgadio gotta seea became a US citizen on
Speaker 1: June twenty fifth, nineteen forty seven. Mcgadil went to work
Speaker 1: for the Veterans Administration. He made up for the lack
Speaker 1: of education he had as a child. He went back
Speaker 1: to school, He got married, he had three kids, and
Speaker 1: he kept fighting for others, pressing for progress and fairness
Speaker 1: and change, helping veterans in their families. Not cashing in
Speaker 1: on his heroism, mcgadill always insisted that he hadn't done
Speaker 1: anything the extraordinary on the battlefield. He had just been
Speaker 1: in the right place, in the right time, with the
Speaker 1: right people watching. As the years rolled on, the world
Speaker 1: became a bit more progressive. John F. Kennedy was elected
Speaker 1: on a wave of support for civil rights, including for Latinos.
Speaker 1: In fact, it was LULAK, the same organization that had
Speaker 1: rallied behind macgadio's case, that helped get the Latino vote
Speaker 1: for Kennedy, which brings us, of course, to that night
Speaker 1: before Kennedy died. The evening of November twenty first, nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty three, JFK was on a multi day tour of Texas,
Speaker 1: and the second it was clear that he would visit Houston,
Speaker 1: John J. Herrera started working to get the president to
Speaker 1: a LULAC event. The effort paid off, although they were
Speaker 1: told not to advert highs his appearance. Lu Luck was
Speaker 1: informed that the President would drop by the event as
Speaker 1: a way to thank them for their past support and
Speaker 1: rally them for the upcoming election. And when he showed up,
Speaker 1: there was maccadio.
Speaker 6: JFK came to the Lulah convention and he was greeted
Speaker 6: at the door by my brother, Sergeant.
Speaker 1: Said mccadill, led the honor guard and sat on the
Speaker 1: stage behind the President as he spoke to the crowd.
Speaker 9: The United States is not only good names, which we
Speaker 9: were in the thirties, but also friends and associates in
Speaker 9: a great effort to build in this hemisphere an alliance
Speaker 9: for progress, an effort to prove that in this hemisphere,
Speaker 9: from top.
Speaker 2: To bottom, in all of the countries, whether they be
Speaker 2: Latin or North American, that there is a common commitment
Speaker 2: to freedom, to equality of opportunity, to a transfer all.
Speaker 1: Then his wife Jackie spoke in Spanish to the sound
Speaker 1: of cheers. So it's sat the armenta.
Speaker 4: Contall monta de la nobil study.
Speaker 1: The whole presidential visit only lasted fifteen minutes, but to
Speaker 1: the people in that room it felt monumental, the start
Speaker 1: of something better. And then the next day, Dallas, this official.
Speaker 10: Mount, the president is dead. Women here in shock, some
Speaker 10: sainted secret servicemen standing by the emergency room, tears stripping
Speaker 10: down their face. There's only one word to describe the
Speaker 10: picture here, and that's breathed, and much of it.
Speaker 1: Anyone alive that day felt the gravity of that moment,
Speaker 1: the sadnesses, the sense that a man who had done
Speaker 1: his level best to lead the country forward had been
Speaker 1: cut down in his prime. But that's why I keep
Speaker 1: thinking about what it means that JFK was with Maccatio
Speaker 1: the night before. It's a reminder that change and progress
Speaker 1: aren't the work of one man or one moment, but
Speaker 1: of a steady constant pushing, holding the line, edging it forward.
Speaker 1: If you can accepting the sacrifice. Macgadio Gottacia died in
Speaker 1: a car crash in nineteen seventy two. He was only
Speaker 1: fifty two years old. The funeral went on for two days,
Speaker 1: thousands of people attended, and eventually mcgatio's name was enshrined
Speaker 1: in Texas. A road was named after him in Houston,
Speaker 1: plus two schools and an army reserve center. And the
Speaker 1: years before for his death, Makadiel had continued his work
Speaker 1: supporting the military. He traveled to Vietnam in nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: eight to talk to the troops. He was interviewed in
Speaker 1: the paper saying quote, I was a Mexican citizen, but
Speaker 1: I lived in this country, and I said that if
Speaker 1: the country called me, I would not refuse. I didn't
Speaker 1: want to go and fight and take a chance of
Speaker 1: getting killed. Nobody does. But a man has a more
Speaker 1: responsibility to fight for his country or a country that
Speaker 1: is good to him. Of course, this country wasn't always
Speaker 1: good to him, but he saw it for what it
Speaker 1: could be not just for what it was.
Speaker 6: He fought the war in two fronts, in the battlefield
Speaker 6: against the Nazi Germans and here at home in the
Speaker 6: domestic front against the discrimination. Or he was victorious in both.
Speaker 6: If it not been were that medal that President Truman
Speaker 6: awarded him his role as a civil rights activist, would
Speaker 6: I had no merit at tall.
Speaker 1: It's true, the Medal of Honor gave Macgadio the confidence
Speaker 1: to walk into the Oasis cafe and asked to be served.
Speaker 1: It gave him the platform for the public fight against discrimination.
Speaker 1: It gave him his place in history. But what made
Speaker 1: him a hero was his ability to make progress against
Speaker 1: the Germans, against segregation, or as he once put it,
Speaker 1: he was moving forward and it was not the time
Speaker 1: to stop. Medal of Honor Stories of Courage is written
Speaker 1: by Meredith Rollins and produced by Meredith Rollins, Jess Shane,
Speaker 1: and Suzanne Gabber. Our editor is Ben Nadav Hoffrey. Sound
Speaker 1: design and additional music by Jake Gorsky. Our executive producer
Speaker 1: is Constanza Gallardo. Fact checking by Arthur Gomperts. Original music
Speaker 1: by Eric Phillips. Special thanks to the Congressional Medal of
Speaker 1: Honor Society, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum,
Speaker 1: the Houston History Research Center, Houston Oral History Project, TCU,
Speaker 1: MARYKLZ Burnett Library, and w E TA. We also want
Speaker 1: to hear from you. Send us your personal stories of
Speaker 1: courage or highlight someone else's bravery. You might hear your
Speaker 1: stories on future episodes of Medal of Honor or see
Speaker 1: them on our social channels. All you have to do
Speaker 1: is email us at Medal of Honor at Pushkin dot FM.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, JR. Martinez The tot Asad ad