Brothers in arms

Martín Yáñez Sr. was buried in 1991 after he lost his war against lung cancer.

But it was the war he won 46 years earlier that his family remembers most, his relatives said.

Martín, his older brother José María and their half brother Camilo Guerra all went into the Army in 1944. But the war was not without its price: José María was killed in combat and Camilo was a German prisoner of war for at least 13 months.

They lived in Edinburgh, Texas, before the war, said Martín's widow, Trinidad, who lives in a farm in Zillah that she and her husband bought in the 1960s. Martín and José María began their training in May and the two headed to Europe under different units.

"They parted ways there," said Trinidad, in her kitchen, where a plastic figure of the Last Supper hangs above her dinner table. "They didn't know that they would never see each other again."

José María, who had a wife and two children, was killed while under heavy fighting in Luxembourg in 1944, said his nephew, Martín Yáñez Jr.

Martín Sr., who also fought there and later in Germany, did not find out about his brother's death until after the war, more than a year later.

Camilo was also in Luxembourg, where German forces captured him and he remained a POW until the end of the war in 1945.

More than 60 years later, World War II still weighs heavy on the Yáñez family, said the 85-year-old Trinidad. Martín Jr., now 66, said the war took away his uncle, who was also a role model and his father's protector. Framed pictures of sons, grandsons and other family members hang from the Zillah ranch's living room, just as Martín Sr. left them when he died.

The Yáñez brothers were among the estimated 500,000 Latino soldiers who fought during World War II, most of them of Mexican origin, according to the Armed Forces. Exact figures are not available because service personnel of that era were classified only as white, black or Asian.

In early 1944, Camilo Guerra joined the Army as a volunteer. He was deployed to Europe, where he was captured.

In May 1944, the two remaining brothers served their training in Fort Sam Houston. They were assigned to E Company before parting ways to Europe.

Martín Sr. took part in many battles, Trinidad said. But it was during a scouting mission with four other soldiers when his true grit was put to the test.

"They sent five. And of the five, (Martín) was the only one who remained," said Trinidad. "He told me that they were supposed to have awarded him the Medal of Honor, but, 'They didn't give it to me because there was no one to vouch for me.' "

The mild-mannered Martín was the type of man who would share his rations with German civilians who took refuge in underground dwellings during the war, recalled Trinidad.

"He looked at the old people and at the children and would tell them, 'I'm not going to hurt you.' I gave them my cheese."

Before the war, the Yáñezes were migrant workers who often visited relatives in the Yakima Valley. After the war, the family moved to the Valley permanently in 1953.

According to Trinidad, her husband decided to move to Yakima because he wanted to settle down. He did not want his children to grow up as migrants.

Martín Sr. acquired only an elementary education, Trinidad said. She added that as a migrant child, he had little time to study and his mother made him drop out of school after a teacher beat him for not learning fast enough.

José María taught Martín Sr. the trade of boxmaking and migrant work, Trinidad said. What he lacked in academic skills, he made up with dedication.

"He was a good worker," said Martín Jr.

A heavy smoker who had a weakness for unfiltered Camels, Martín Sr. was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly before his death, said Martín Jr. After extensive treatment, doctors said he was terminally ill and permitted Trini to take him home.

Nevertheless, he had time to visit and say goodbye to his relatives in Texas and California before dying peacefully in the company of his family in his ranch, Trinidad said.

A humble man, Martín Sr. managed to get an education for his children, said Martín Jr., who became a teacher and later an activist. Trini said that that's why her husband insisted on settling down in the Yakima Valley.

"He said, 'Moving around is not good for the children,' " recalled Trinidad. "He said, 'I didn't get (an education), but they will.' "

There are no definitive numbers for what proportion of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II were Latinos. The D-Day World War II Museum in New Orleans has put the number at 250,000 to 500,000, but since there was no designation on military forms for Hispanic -- only black and Asian -- the real number is hard to determine, museum officials acknowledge. But there is no question Latinos served honorably and bravely.

-- Time magazine,

April 8, 2007

Of the 464 Medals of Honor presented for heroic service in all theaters of World War II, 14 were earned by Americans of Latino heritage.

-- http://www.neta.com

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