Selected Interview Segments: Agnes Horn
Agnes Horn,
Special Assistant to Dr. Hector P. Garcia
Copyright 2007 South Texas Public Broadcasting System, INC.
Q: Tell me about the first time about the first that you can remember meeting Dr. Hector Garcia.
A: Oh, yes. The first time I met Dr. Hector was when my baby sister was sick. Uh, she was just a few months old, and our doctor was Dr. White, and he told my father that, he needed to get another Dr. because he didn't know what else to do, this was at home. He said, "But, there's a doctor here, a Mexican doctor that is very good. His name is Hector Garcia, you should take him to her." So, of course, my father did right away. So, when my father took my little sister to Dr. Hector automatically he rushed her to the hospital and-and took care of her, and after God, he saved my sister. My father was very impressed because he never asked if he had any money, nothing. All he thought was saving the life of my baby sister.
Q: Can you explain to those who have never saw that, never participated in it, what the Youth Chapter of the American G.I. Forum was about and why it was important for you to be involved in it when you were young?
A: The youth would go to Dr. Hector's office and then we'd go and collect money for the Doctor to fight the discrimination. But, my father was very strict. I could only go, like on a Saturday or a Sunday. And, like from 1:00 to 5:00 and then I had to walk back home because during the week, we didn't go out anywhere, only a Saturday or a Sunday. And, that's when the Dr. would have the-- whatever we had to do for-for the youth to help him. And, everybody was willing to help. Everybody, all the community, all the Mexican-American people were there to help him, whatever he needed. And, we-- I remember we went around the neighborhood and we would collect like three pennies, a nickel, a dime, and when they gave us a quarter, at that time, that was a lot of money.
See, we all knew about discrimination because we went through it. And, when Dr. Hector was, you know, defending us, protecting us, and educating us, mostly. So, everybody was there for the Dr. because we were- we needed to learn these things. Even though we were going to school, we did not know anything about civil rights, and we were just-- that-that- if an Anglo got in the bus, we would get up and give him the chair, because he was an Anglo. So, to me, we were kind of brainwashed on this. So, the Doctor was trying-- he always felt if he would teach the youth civil rights and let them know, you know, what to expect from-from our government that we would be growing up, uh, knowing our-our rights.
Q: You told me that women in the G.I. Forum would carry out duties that the men couldn't. Can you explain that for me?
A: Dr. Hector Garcia always emphasized how important the women were for the G.I. Forum because there were situations that the husband couldn't speak out because of retaliation on his job and he had a family to support. So, they really couldn't say anything because they were afraid of losing their jobs. But, then, see, the woman could come in and speak on the issue whatever it was and it would not retaliate back on the husband. And, the Doctor always emphasized how vital the women were in the American G.I. Forum. In fact, he always used to say that the women were the backbone of the American G.I. Forum because at that time, women didn't work. They stayed home. It was easier for the women to go and speak up on any issue or situation that came along that the man couldn't go because of losing their jobs. And, the women were not afraid. The women were very brave and especially, at that time, most of the women did not have a high school education, but then, they were very smart. They were very smart. And they could go and defend themselves. But, before they went, you know, they were lectured by the Doctor and instructed and they would teach 'em what they had to say or how to say it. So, when they would go and talk about an issue, they knew everything in detail. There was no way that somebody can say something and they didn't know how to answer it. They were very well instructed.
Q: I wanted to talk about the G.I. Forum in association with voting within the organization - talk about that and the importance of one vote per person within the G.I. Forum.
A: Well, you know, the Dr. was way ahead of his time, when he organized G.I. Forum. See, the Forum is the veteran. Then we have the women and we have the youth. Now, the women vote for the women and the youth for the youth. But, when it comes to the commander, or the-- at that time, was the chairman, of the men's chapter-the women and the youth vote for the commander. And, but, see, he gave the women a vote and the youth a vote. And this is way before, the women's liberation or E.R.A. -- He, already ahead of time, believed in the women, believed that we should have a vote. And, when he organized it, he gave us a vote, gave the women a vote because, if for some reason, we did not like the commander, see, all we had to do, work between us women and vote him out. That was his thinking, you know, that, see we were all going to work at it. We women, never had an-- no excuse because he'll say, "I want you to do this, and this and this." Now, in the Forum, which are the veterans, and it's the man... at that time we didn't have too many women... veterans. But, then, from Vietnam, we started having a lot of women veterans. So, the women belonged in the Forum with the man as veterans because they are veterans. So, the Dr. always thought about us women being equal.
Q: One thing that he was willing to do was to speak at the funerals of the Vietnam soldiers as they were returning for burial. And I know there were a lot of things that were involved in the process that would happen. They would go out to the airport and retrieve the body and take it back and have a wake and then, he would, of course, speak at the funeral. Can you talk a little about those events and how they took place?
A: Oh yes. When-whenever we had a soldier that was killed-- well, let's say that most of them that I went were the ones from Vietnam. And when they were brought back home, they would be flown to the airport. At that time, there was nothing there at the airport and from highway 44 all the way to the airport, it was just fields. And the people would call, see-- the G.I.. Forum cannot go- could not go and say "I want to participate" or-- the family had to call the Doctor before we could be involved. And they did. They would call the Doctor and the Doctor would get the G.I. Forum, the men and the women, and whenever they brought the body, we would go over there, we would all be there to receive the body with the family. After that, well, we'll follow the ambulance and the families and we would go to the house, if it was going to be a service in the house or to the funeral home.
When we were there, the ladies would help the mother clean the house, and do the washing, whatever she needed to be done that she couldn't do, and, uh, cook for them. And, the Doctor would give us money to go buy the food. We would just go the store, buy whatever we needed and we would cook for that-the family, clean the house and wash. We would go to the funerals and the Doctor... Would already know about that soldier and about the family that when he-- like, when we were at the wake that night, we would have, uh, coffee and sweet bread. And, uh, the Doctor would speak then. Then at the funeral in the cemetery, well, we would have the flags and the gun salute and the taps, and he would speak on behalf.
And, sometimes we would go to one funeral, two hours or an hour later we-we had to go to another one. And we-- I think I went to more than 200 or so funerals around the community and the Doctor went to all, all the funerals that we had around here and around the community, sometimes to other states that they would call on him to go. And, uh, to him that was very-- like they say, you know who your friend is when you're in need.