World War I During this dynamic historical period, the first World War began in 1914. Historian Howard Zinn argues that the U.S. entered the war in 1917 to protect foreign business interests and support the allies who held material contracts with the U.S. 3
Migration from Mexico Increases From 1926 to 1928, another conflict in Mexico occurred between the government and the Catholic Church. Known as the Cristero War, it caused hundreds of thousands of more Mexicans to escape persecution, as Vietnam veteran David Valladolid explained is his family’s history. “My father, Genaro Valladolid, was a Cristero in Mex- ico during that difficult period of time for members of the Catholic Church, and his family was told that they all would be killed.”
Entering the war for the U.S. meant the need to recruit able-bodied, working-class peo- ple into military service. Actual numbers of people of Mexican ancestry who enlisted are not verifiable. According to profes - sor of history Lorena Oropeza, the legal white classification status of some “Mexican-origin soldiers makes it difficult to de - termine the exact number that served in WWI, [however] it is safe to say that the estimate of numbers is in the thousands to tens of thousands.”
The San Diego Union – April 6, 1917 (Courtesy The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The 100th Congress issued Resolution No. 253 on November 9, 2007, indicating that approximately 200,000 Hispanic American service- members were mobilized during WWI, the majority of them being of Mexican heritage. During heightened periods of anti-Mexican sentiment, some Mexican American veterans viewed their war service as a claim to the “American” identity that entitled them access to the same civil rights afforded all other U.S.-born citizens. San Diego was an important war-time port city and home to various military posts. 4 There is evidence that U.S.-born and immigrants of Mexican ancestry helped construct Camp Kearny during WWI, and it is likely they participated in the construction of various other facilities. 5
Cristero leaders and their banner – 1926
David said his grandfather made the decision for the family to leave Zamora, Michoacán. In 1927, he applied for U.S. refugee status and relocated the family, first to Santa Paula, California and then settled in nearby Oxnard. After his father passed away at the age of 39, his mother, Rita Virginia Valladolid, moved to San Diego with her five children, all under the age of eight. Her career in nursing would lead her to the San Ysidro Health Center where she was hired as the first nurse at the clinic from which she retired after four decades in the nursing field.
40
San Diego Latino Legacy – Timeline • Milestones • Stories
Chapter 2 – Rebuilding Lives, Against All Odds
41
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator