On Nov 27, 1944 SSG Macario Garcia and his company from the 22nd Infantry, became pinned down in the woods near Grosshau, Germany.
Under heavy MG, mortar and artillery fire, Garcia made a lone man assault against the lines.
Despite being severly wounded in the shoulder, he crawled under point blank fire, killing 7 Germans, capturing 4 and destroying 2 MG positions. He refused to be evacuated and stayed with his unit until the objective was taken. He was credited with saving hundreds of lives on that day.
On Aug 23, 1945, SSG Garcia became the first Mexican immigrant to receive the Medal of Honor.
A month after receiving the award, he was severely beaten by a restaurant owner with a baseball bat in Sugar Land, TX for trying to eat there. He was subsequently arrested; all for simply being Hispanic. After the incident made national headlines, the charges were dropped.
Despite it all, García became an American citizen in 1947 and earned his high school diploma in 1951. He worked at the VA until his death in 1972 from a car crash.
#ww2 #hero #zerofoxtrot #stayzero