Manuel F. Medrano is professor emeritus at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

The Life and Times of Sergeant José M. López: Mexican by Birth, American by Valor is a true testament of recognition, remembrance, and a salute of a true American hero who received our nation's highest military accolade, yet his American story is nowhere to be found in our textbooks. Therefore, learning about the life of Sergeant José M. López closes the gaps and introduces an alternative account of the past by voicing, humanizing, and giving agency to Mexican Americans as participants in the making of our history- our American history. As an educator, scholar, and Mexican American teaching a curriculum that lacks diversity, continuity, and connection to our students' collective and personal experiences, The Life and Times ofSergeant José M. López personifies our history and embraces, recreates, and reclaims the meaning of citizenship. As an addition and supplement reading in the classroom, the life of Sergeant José M. López fosters a sense of identity, belonging, and citizenship not just from a hero from Rio Grande Valley but as an American hero.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1: The Way Things Occur: Operation Castaña, The Urgency of Oral HistoryChapter 2: Together We WinChapter 3: Homefront Heroes: Rosie the Riveter, Betty Crocker and the Real Women of WarChapter 4: Los Medalleros (Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients) TejanosChapter 5: From Mexico to the Magic ValleyChapter 6: Boxer, Sailor and HusbandChapter 7: Company K and the Machine Gun ManChapter 8: After the War: What Cannot Be ForgottenChapter 9: Keeping a Promesa Chapter 10: Always a Soldier: When the Trumpet BlewAppendix: An Interview with José M. LópezBibliographyAbout the Author

Manuel F. Medrano is professor emeritus at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

The Life and Times of Sergeant José M. López: Mexican by Birth, American by Valor is a true testament of recognition, remembrance, and a salute of a true American hero who received our nation's highest military accolade, yet his American story is nowhere to be found in our textbooks. Therefore, learning about the life of Sergeant José M. López closes the gaps and introduces an alternative account of the past by voicing, humanizing, and giving agency to Mexican Americans as participants in the making of our history- our American history. As an educator, scholar, and Mexican American teaching a curriculum that lacks diversity, continuity, and connection to our students' collective and personal experiences, The Life and Times ofSergeant José M. López personifies our history and embraces, recreates, and reclaims the meaning of citizenship. As an addition and supplement reading in the classroom, the life of Sergeant José M. López fosters a sense of identity, belonging, and citizenship not just from a hero from Rio Grande Valley but as an American hero.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1: The Way Things Occur: Operation Castaña, The Urgency of Oral HistoryChapter 2: Together We WinChapter 3: Homefront Heroes: Rosie the Riveter, Betty Crocker and the Real Women of WarChapter 4: Los Medalleros (Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients) TejanosChapter 5: From Mexico to the Magic ValleyChapter 6: Boxer, Sailor and HusbandChapter 7: Company K and the Machine Gun ManChapter 8: After the War: What Cannot Be ForgottenChapter 9: Keeping a Promesa Chapter 10: Always a Soldier: When the Trumpet BlewAppendix: An Interview with José M. LópezBibliographyAbout the Author

Manuel F. Medrano is professor emeritus at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

The Life and Times of Sergeant José M. López: Mexican by Birth, American by Valor is a true testament of recognition, remembrance, and a salute of a true American hero who received our nation's highest military accolade, yet his American story is nowhere to be found in our textbooks. Therefore, learning about the life of Sergeant José M. López closes the gaps and introduces an alternative account of the past by voicing, humanizing, and giving agency to Mexican Americans as participants in the making of our history- our American history. As an educator, scholar, and Mexican American teaching a curriculum that lacks diversity, continuity, and connection to our students' collective and personal experiences, The Life and Times ofSergeant José M. López personifies our history and embraces, recreates, and reclaims the meaning of citizenship. As an addition and supplement reading in the classroom, the life of Sergeant José M. López fosters a sense of identity, belonging, and citizenship not just from a hero from Rio Grande Valley but as an American hero.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1: The Way Things Occur: Operation Castaña, The Urgency of Oral HistoryChapter 2: Together We WinChapter 3: Homefront Heroes: Rosie the Riveter, Betty Crocker and the Real Women of WarChapter 4: Los Medalleros (Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients) TejanosChapter 5: From Mexico to the Magic ValleyChapter 6: Boxer, Sailor and HusbandChapter 7: Company K and the Machine Gun ManChapter 8: After the War: What Cannot Be ForgottenChapter 9: Keeping a Promesa Chapter 10: Always a Soldier: When the Trumpet BlewAppendix: An Interview with José M. LópezBibliographyAbout the Author