
Hero Street, U.S.a.
The Story of Little Mexico's Fallen Soldiers
Marc Wilson(Author)
University of Oklahoma Press
Published on 15. May 2009
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-0-8061-4012-4 (ISBN)
Description
The first book-length account of a story too long overlookedClaro Solis wanted to win a gold star for his mother. He succeeded - as did seven other sons of ""Little Mexico.""
Second Street in Silvis, Illinois, was a poor neighborhood during the Great Depression that had become home to Mexicans fleeing revolution in their homeland. In 1971 it was officially renamed ""Hero Street"" to commemorate its claim to the highest per-capita casualty rate from any neighborhood during World War II. Marc Wilson now tells the story of this community and the young men it sent to fight for their adopted country.
Hero Street, U.S.A. is the first book to recount a saga too long overlooked in histories and television documentaries. Interweaving family memories, soldiers' letters, historical photographs, interviews with relatives, and firsthand combat accounts, Wilson tells the compelling stories of nearly eighty men from three dozen Second Street homes who volunteered to fight for their country in World War II and Korea - and of the eight, including Claro Solis, who never came back.
As debate swirls around the place of Mexican immigrants in contemporary American society, this book shows the price of citizenship willingly paid by the sons of earlier refugees. With Hero Street, U.S.A., Marc Wilson not only makes an important contribution to military and social history but also acknowledges the efforts of the heroes of Second Street to realize the American dream.
Second Street in Silvis, Illinois, was a poor neighborhood during the Great Depression that had become home to Mexicans fleeing revolution in their homeland. In 1971 it was officially renamed ""Hero Street"" to commemorate its claim to the highest per-capita casualty rate from any neighborhood during World War II. Marc Wilson now tells the story of this community and the young men it sent to fight for their adopted country.
Hero Street, U.S.A. is the first book to recount a saga too long overlooked in histories and television documentaries. Interweaving family memories, soldiers' letters, historical photographs, interviews with relatives, and firsthand combat accounts, Wilson tells the compelling stories of nearly eighty men from three dozen Second Street homes who volunteered to fight for their country in World War II and Korea - and of the eight, including Claro Solis, who never came back.
As debate swirls around the place of Mexican immigrants in contemporary American society, this book shows the price of citizenship willingly paid by the sons of earlier refugees. With Hero Street, U.S.A., Marc Wilson not only makes an important contribution to military and social history but also acknowledges the efforts of the heroes of Second Street to realize the American dream.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oklahoma
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Paper over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
15 black & white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
451 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8061-4012-4 (9780806140124)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Marc Wilson is a veteran journalist, reporter, and news executive for the Associated Press and founder and CEO of the International Newspaper Network. He has been a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, the Denver Post, and the Boulder Daily Camera. The Montana Newspaper Association honored him in 2004 as a Master Editor-Publisher for his work at the Bigfork Eagle.