Chicanos During The Vietnam War

Over the past hundred years Chicanos had fought bravely for their country. But if you try to look for books or articles about Chicanos in books about Vietnam they are, for the most part, almost absent. They fail to recognize how important Mexican Americans were in this war. They fail to mention that Mexican American soldiers are the most decorated ethnic group in the America. In the bestseller Everything We Had by Al Santoli, though it discusses soldiers in the Vietnam War, not one Chicano is interviewed . The Vietnam War failed to advance status as Americans and help their civil right battles. Even though they fought bravely Chicanos still faced prejudice before and during the war and received minimum recognition for their efforts in the War .
They also viewed it as a way to prove their loyalty to the United States since many people in the United States considered them foreigners even though they were born here . Because Chicanos did not have the opportunity to receive a good education, joining the military was one of the only ways to earn a decent income and a chance for a brighter future. However the war proved to be traumatic for most of the Mexican-American soldiers and sailors that participated in it.
Ralph Guzman brought race and war issues into light and argued, “… Mexican Americans are over-represented in the casualty reports from Vietnam and underrepresented in the graduating classes of our institutions of higher learning . Americans at the time knew that the Vietnam conflict was a very important issue but many did not support sending more troops . Many Americans were not so enthusiastic about the draft. Chicanos in particular were not pleased with how the Vietnam conflict was being handled by President Nixon