Dr Hector Perez Garcia

Founder of the American GI Forum

by Toni Perez, National Hispanic Reporter, Corpus Christi, Tx --The motto of the American GI Forum was the driving force behind a courageous man-- Hector Perez Garcia.

When "Dr. Hector" formed the American GI Forum on March 26, 1948, his goal was to provide good health care for veterans who needed it and were refused because they were "Mexicans". He had no idea of the impact he and his organization would have on the state of Texas and the nation.

Dr. Garcia was born in Liera, Tamaulipas, Mexico on January 17, 1914 to a college professor and a school teacher. In 1918, the Garcia family immigrated to Mercedes, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley after they escaped an attack on their village during the Mexican Revolution.

Although his parents were educated, Dr Garcia and his family were forced to work in the fields in South Texas in order to survive. This was perhaps the first taste of discrimination tht the Garcias had faced in Texas.

In spite of their meager beginnings in Texas, Dr. Garcia's father always stressed the importance of a good education in order to succeed in life. He encouraged his children to break what seemed to be the natural order for Mexican Americans in the Southwest at that time--poorly educated, poorly nouished, poorly paid and poorly treated.

During a time when "mejicanos" only had a third grade education, Dr Garcia graduated as the valedictorian of his high school class.

After he graduated with honors from the University of Texas with a degree in zoology, Dr. Garcia decided not to pursue his first love--a career in teaching. Rather, he chose to pursue a career in medicine because of the independence he would gain as a physician.

His admittance into the UT Medical School in Galveston was not difficult because of his outstanding educational performance along with the fact that only one Mexican American could be admitted into the school each year. Dr. Garcia was the lucky one in 1940.

Dr. Garcia volunteered for Army duty in 1942 during World War II. He served as an infantry officer, a combat engineer officer and, when the Army finally allowed him to practice medicine, a medical corps officer before being discharged as a Major. Dr. Garcia was awarded a Bronze Star with six battle stars for his service in North Africa and Italy.

When Dr. Garcia returned toCorpus Christi after the war in 1946, he was anxious to begin in medical practice. He opened his office next door to the United States Veterans Administration office. He accepted an offer from the VA to take in sick veterans, for which he was to receive $3.00 per patient.

Many of these patients had served in the Pacific and were Hispanic. They had tried to be treated by doctors in the Naval Air Station hospital but had been denied. To deny Mexican American veterans the right to good health care and treat them as second class citizens after fighting overseas to protect the democracy and freedom that Americans enjoy was totally unacceptable to Dr. Garcia.