Where and when were you born? My father was a Mexican by birth, whereas my mother and her family have roots in Mexico, but they immigrated to the US at the beginning of the 20th century. Accordingly, my mom, Rafina, was born in Encanto, which is a community in San Diego. My parents met in Encanto, where my mother worked as a teacher. After they got married, my two sisters and I were born in Tijuana, Mexico. When it comes to me, I am the oldest child in the family, as I was born in 1940. In turn, my two sisters were born in 1943 and 1946, respectively. We had been living in Tijuana until 1950, when our family decided to move to the US. Accordingly, we have been living in San Diego ever since. Consequently, even though I am a Mexican citizen by birth, I consider the US as my motherland. What was your childhood like? Please describe it in detail. Describe your teenage years. In the context of education, there did not exist such a thing as bilingual education. So, when we immigrated, I was in the second grade in Tijuana. Thus, they gave me a test, which, obviously, was in English. I failed it miserably because I did not know English very well. Fortunately, it was a very small school that only included several students per class. Considering that the majority of other students did not speak English either, all of us were cooperating and asking in Spanish, “What did she say — the teacher? Que dijo?” We were also trying to make sense of what the teacher was saying. Such a vast number of students having poor knowledge of English can be explained by the fact that we were studying in a farm labor community occupied by immigrants with different ethnic backgrounds. At the same time, I was required to communicate with English-speaking students despite the fact that the majority of people surrounding me were immigrants. On the one hand, it was difficult to find a common language with people who were born in the US. For instance, they frequently expressed disrespect toward individuals coming from other countries. On the other hand, it has encouraged me to learn English in a short time in order to become an integral part of American society. For example, English-speaking children learned, especially on the playground, that we were actually very good and interesting people. As a result, they invited us to their team to spend time together. That is how we learned to be able to communicate with each other, even though, initially, there was some animosity. We got over it as we demonstrated we were human beings just like they were. Did you serve in the military? If so, in what branch and during what time period? What was the experience like? Please explain in detail. Eventually, after graduating from college, I volunteered to serve in the armed forces because we were involved in the battles in Southeast Asia, Vietnam, and so forth. I felt obligated to pay back for what I had earned — the opportunities to be here. This is the main reason that I served in the US Army. Taking into account that there was spinal meningitis in California, where the training was taking place, I was sent to Georgia in 1965. On the way, I became more familiar with African Americans, being in Georgia and South Carolina. In addition, I developed tremendously strong and friendly relationships with other guys serving in the US Army. In fact, the majority of us were either African Americans, Mexican Americans, or Puerto Ricans. Therefore, we were incredibly integra