Latin Heroes
Hispanics have been joining up in record numbers. But no one planned on dying
LOS ANGELES--It had practically become a family joke. From the time he was little, Jorge Gonzalez loved all things military, from GI Joes to video war games. And, from the time he was little, every Christmas, Gonzalez's Mexican mother, Rosa, would indulge her denial and put a set of toy doctor's instruments under the tree for him.
But the white coat really never stood a chance against the dress blues. Gonzalez joined the Marine Corps straight out of high school at 17, hoping that the training and education benefits would lift him out of the gang-ridden Latino neighborhoods of El Monte on the outskirts of L.A. and into a brighter future.
This week, Gonzalez's beloved dress blues will be used to bury him. The 20-year-old marine died on March 23 in fighting near Nasiriyah, Iraq. He leaves behind his parents, three brothers, two sisters, a wife, and a 3-week-old son, Alonso, he never met. And he joined a growing list of fallen Latino marines from the Los Angeles area--four thus far, out of a total of 58 American service personnel killed by late last week. The others: Lance Cpl. Jose Antonio Gutierrez, 28, an orphan and Guatemalan immigrant who was among the first soldiers killed in battle at Umm Qasr; Pfc. Francisco Martinez Flores, 21, who died when his tank plunged into the Euphrates River; and Cpl. Jose Angel Garibay, 21, of nearby Costa Mesa, who died during heavy fighting at Nasiriyah. These deaths have rocked L.A.'s tightly knit Hispanic communities, where support for the war is high and military service is a long tradition. "Young Latinos have been among the first killed and the first captured," says Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, which studies Latinos in the military. "And it has brought them to people's attention, with an element of surprise."
Joining up. Hispanics are still modestly underrepresented in the American military (chart, above), but over the past decade, no single group has grown as quickly; the number of Hispanic service personnel has increased by 30 percent since 1991, even as the military itself has shrunk by 23 percent, according to Suro. Hispanics make up 9.7 percent of the Army, 10.5 percent of the Navy, and 5.6 percent of the Air Force. But at 14 percent, they are especially well represented in the Marine Corps and are drawn disproportionately to frontline assignments involving weapons.
At a Marine recruiting center, squeezed between the Salon de Fiesta and Esbeydi's Beauty Salon in an East L.A. strip mall, Gunnery Sgt. Jorge Montes has known the sad statistics would be coming. A Gulf War veteran, Montes, 32, has been enlisting recruits for three years, most of them Latino and most headed for the infantry. "Even recruits who score out of the infantry choose it anyway," says Montes, who chalks it up to a macho culture. "There is a certain pride in being in the front lines at the tip of the spear." The Marines recruit heavily in Latino high schools and in Latino communities here like Pico Rivera and Montebello. They lay on the aggressive, testosterone-heavy image, and it sells.
But stereotypical Latino machismo only goes so far in explaining why the military is becoming such a magnet for young Latinos. There are other strong reasons as well, including educational benefits, job security, prestige, and for some, fast-track citizenship--the ultimate accomplishment for a kid from the barrios of L.A. Last July, President Bush ordered that green-card holders who are on active duty be allowed to apply immediately for citizenship, waiving the usual three-year waiting period. The government has also created a team to swiftly process citizenship applications from the military, which have ballooned from around 300 a month before Bush's order took effect to 1,300 a month now. Two of the Latino marines from Southern California, Corporal Gutierrez and Corporal Garibay, who died just short of receiving citizenship, were granted it posthumously last week. Gutierrez was a Guatemalan street kid who had crossed the border illegally and was taken in by a foster family in Lomita, near Los Angeles. His death for a country that was not his own has stirred controversy in Guatemala and Mexico, where opposition to the war is much greater than it is among Hispanics in the United States (the majority support the war). In fact, says Bruce Harris, director of Casa Alianza, a program for street children in Central America that cared for Gutierrez for nine years, Gutierrez never expected to go to war. "People say that Jose Antonio joined the Marines to fight for a country that wasn't his," says Harris. "He joined the Marines to get an education. He died trying to become a college student, not a citizen."
Yellow ribbons. But at the modest Duarte, Calif., home of Martha and Samuel Martinez, where yellow ribbons (as well as a newly acquired black one) hang from the trees, and the flags of the United States, the Marine Corps, and Mexico all fly together, the news that their son Francisco Martinez Flores will be granted citizenship posthumously has been the only bright spot since he died last month. Martinez Flores was only two weeks away from becoming a citizen when his tank went over a bridge into the Euphrates River. "To die fighting for America as an American. It means everything," says Reyna Diaz, a close family friend. "Francisco proved he was a citizen when he gave his life." But Martinez Flores never expected to be in combat either. He joined the Marines as a ticket to college, friends said, so he could study to become a stockbroker or an FBI agent.
Even now, it has barely sunk in that a stint in the military can turn deadly at any time. But in places like troubled East L.A., so can a trip to the corner store. Last week, as families awaited the return of their fallen sons, the Marine center in East L.A. was still buzzing with potential recruits. One scrawny teenager with earrings in both ears, who asked that his name not be used since he had yet to tell his mother of his plans, seemed undeterred. "I'm hoping the war will be over by then. I just want to go to college," he said.
In Uniform and Out ...
Military
(active duty)
Other 6 pct.
Hispanic 9 pct.
Black 20 pct.
White 64 pct.
Civilians*
(ages 18 to 44)
Other 5 pct.
Hispanic 13 pct.
Black 13 pct.
White 69 pct.
Note: Percentages may not equal 100 percent because of rounding.
Sources: Department of Defense; Bureau of Labor Statistics
With Samantha Levine
This story appears in the April 14, 2003 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.