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Héctor Pérez García (January 17, 1914 – July 26, 1996) was a Mexican-American physician, surgeon, World War II veteran, civil rights advocate, and founder of the American GI Forum (AGIF). As a result of the national prominence he earned through his work on behalf of Hispanic Americans, he was instrumental in the appointment of Vicente T. Ximenes, a Mexican American and AGIF charter member, to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1966.García was named as alternate representative to the United Nations in 1967; was appointed to the US Commission on Civil Rights in 1968; was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1984; and was named to the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope John Paul II in 1990. In 1998, he was posthumously given the Order of the Aztec Eagle, Mexico's highest award for foreigners, in a ceremony in Corpus Christi. Early life García was born in the city of Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico, to José García and Faustina Pérez García, both school teachers. His family fled the violence of the Mexican Revolution in 1917, legally immigrating to Mercedes, Texas. His father's professional credentials were not recognized in this new country, so he went into the dry goods business. Both parents instilled a love and respect for education in all of their children and expected them all to become medical doctors. García and five of his siblings—José Antonio García, Clotilde Pérez García, Cuitláhuac Pérez García, Xicotencátl Pérez García, and Dalia García-Malison—did become physicians. In 1929, García joined the Citizens' Military Training Corps (CMTC), a peacetime branch of the US Army for youths. He graduated from a segregated high school in 1932. That year, he earned a commission from the CMTC with a rank equivalent to a second lieutenant in the US infantry. He began attending Edinburg Junior College, to and from which he had to hitchhike 30 miles (48 km) daily. His father had to cash in his life insurance policy to finance young García's education. In 1932, García entered the University of Texas at Austin, graduating with a degree in zoology. He was one of the top five of his class. He went on to study at the University of Texas Medical Branch, earning his doctorate in medicine in 1940. He accomplished his residency at St. Joseph's Hospital at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1942. Army career Upon completing his internship in 1942, García was called to active duty in the army, as the US had entered World War II. He was placed in command of a company of infantry. Later, he commanded a company of combat engineers before being transferred to the medical corps. He was stationed in Europe, and eventually rose to the rank of major. He earned the Bronze Star Medal, the European African Middle Eastern Medal with six bronze stars, and the World War II Victory Medal. While in Italy, he met and fell in love with Wanda Fusillo of Naples, whom he married in 1945. Life after the war In 1945, with the war over, Dr. García returned to Southern Texas with his wife Wanda, settling in Corpus Christi. Their first child, Daisy Wanda, was born in 1946. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) had been formed in the city seven years previously by Hispanic veterans to defend the rights of Hispanic-American citizens. García opened a private medical practice with his brother José Antonio; they treated all patients regardless of their ability to pay.In 1947, García was elected president of the local chapter of LULAC. In the same year, he was hospitalized with life-threatening acute nephritis. While recuperating, he heard the local superintendent of the school district talking about the racial segregation in his district. Southern states had established a binary system, classifying all people as mainly either black or white and segregating public facilities by race. At that moment, he made a private oath that, if he recovered, he would dedicate his life to gaining the equality of his people. Founding of AGIF After being discharged from the hospital, García began helping other Mexican-American veterans file claims with the Veteran's Administration (VA). He helped veterans to obtain services from the VA since the administration was slow to respond to the Hispanic-American veterans' needs. In 1948, he began an investigation of conditions for migrant laborers in Mathis, Texas. He found the impoverished workers to be ill-clothed, malnourished, and diseased from lack of basic sanitation. On March 26 of the same year, he called a meeting to address the concerns of Mexican-American veterans. This meeting was a catalyst for developing AGIF, which soon had chapters in 40 Texas cities. It became the primary vehicle by which Mexican-American veterans expressed their discontent with the official discrimination against them and asserted their right to equality. They chose this name to emphasize that AGIF's participants were American citizens entitled to their constitutional rights. Later, AGIF's patriotism would exempt them from FBI infiltration at a time when the agency accused many Mexican-American organizations of having Marxist sympathies. Felix Z. Longoria Jr. In 1945, a Japanese sniper killed Mexican-American private Felix Z. Longoria Jr. in the Philippines. His body was returned to Texas in 1949. His widow's request to use the funeral chapel in Three Rivers was denied, as the funeral director claimed that "the whites won't like it". Dr. García and AGIF intervened, petitioning freshman US Senator Lyndon B. Johnson for redress of the outrage. Johnson secured Longoria's burial in Arlington National Cemetery, where he became the first Mexican American to be awarded this honor. When New York Times reported on the case, it gained national attention, and AGIF was propelled to the forefront of the movement for civil rights. Following this incident, AGIF expanded into the states of New Mexico and Colorado. AGIF in American politics AGIF became a recognized voice for Mexican Americans in the post-World War II era. Besides providing veterans with a social and political network, AGIF took pragmatic actions: it raised funds to pay for poll taxes for the indigent, so they did not have a barrier to voting. It campaigned against the Bracero Program, which had recruited migrant laborers during the war years and was known for discriminatory abuses. Dr. García testified before the National Advisory Committee on Farm Labor, asserting that "The migrant problem is not only a national emergency, it has become a national shame on the American conscience." This work brought him into contact with such national political figures as Hubert Humphrey, Arthur Goldberg, and George McGovern. The organization, and the attention it drew to poverty and discrimination in Texas, also got the attention of Look. It published an article on the high rates of diphtheria, infant diarrhea, and tuberculosis suffered by the neglected community. García also worked to bri.... Discover the Hector Z Gregory popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Hector Z Gregory books.

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