Remembering the Latino veterans of D-Day
Latinos have a long and proud history of defending their country in the Armed Services. On the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy by the Western Allies on June 6, 1944, we remember Latino veterans who sacrificed and in some cases gave their lives to liberate Europe from the Nazi tyranny. One of them was Guillermo Fabela, the late older brother of Helen Chavez and Cesar Chavez’s brother-in-law. Guillermo, a member of the famed U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, helped spearhead the invasion by parachuting behind German lines early on D-Day. He fought with the 101st through Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge in winter 1944-45, earning two Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star. The 101st Airborne was also awarded two Presidential Unit Citations for its service during World War II.
When Guillermo returned to Delano after the war he and other Latino veterans organized the petition campaign that resulted in ending segregation at the Delano Theater where Cesar, while on leave from the U.S. Navy, had been arrested earlier for sitting in the whites-only section.
Two of Cesar Chavez’s cousins with whom he grew up in the North Gila River Valley outside Yuma, Ariz., Rudolf Rico and Lawrence Horta, died fighting with the U.S. Army in Europe.