"They can't draft you," his father told the young man on the day he got his draft notice.  After a long pause he continued, "You see, I am not your real father.  Your parents died when you were a baby, and when you were 18 months old a relative brought you across the border from Mexico and asked me to raise you here where you would have greater opportunity."  After another long pause for the words to sink in he said, "No son, they can't draft you.  You are not an American citizen...you are a Mexican National."

Determined not to "have someone else die in my place", he enlisted anyway.  Sent to Europe, he began studying to become an American citizen while serving on the battlefield.  Then, in Italy, his platoon was pinned down by an enemy machinegun protected by a mine field.  Courageously, the brave immigrant attacked alone, to save the lives of his American buddies.  Lying in the middle of that minefield, both legs blown off at the knees, he ignored his pain and the loss of blood to rise up on the broken stumps of his legs and continue to return fire on the enemy.   His incredible fighting spirit allowed the rest of his men to withdraw, then circle and eliminate the enemy position.