REVIEW: THE GHOSTS OF HERO STREET: How One Small Mexican-American Community Gave So Much in World War II and Korea by Carlos Harrison

In honor of Veteran's Day, The Latina Book Club would like to take a moment to say "Thank You" to all the men and women who have served and continue to serve in this country's armed forces around the world.  We thank you for our liberty and our freedom, and we wish you come home soon, safe and sound.  God bless You All.---mcf

All gave some. Some gave all.


Carlos Harrison has written a gripping, harrowing and triumphant book about Mexican families who immigrated to a small railroad town in search of a better life.  It was rough for them--learning a new language, adapting to a new cultural, and facing discrimination at every turn.  Yet, their faith in their new country never faltered.  These "new" Americans sent 57 of their sons to fight in two fierce wars; Not all came home.  Through interviews with families and friends, Harrison introduces us to the survivors and the fallen. Heroes all.

BOOK SUMMARY:  They came from one street, but death found them in many places: in a distant jungle, a frozen forest, and trapped in the flaming wreckage of a bomber blown from the sky. One died going over a fence during the greatest paratrooper assault in history. Another fell in the biggest battle of World War II. Yet another, riddled with bullets in an audacious act of heroism during a decisive onslaught a world, and a war, away.

All came from a single street in a railroad town called Silvis, Illinois, a tiny stretch of dirt barely a block-and-a-half long, with an unparalleled history.  The twenty-two Mexican-American families who lived on that one street sent fifty-seven of their children to fight in World War II and Korea--more than any other place that size anywhere in the country. Eight of those children died.

It's a distinction recognized by the Department of Defense, and it earned that rutted, unpaved strip a distinguished name. Today it's known as Hero Street. This is the story of those brave men and their families, how they fought both in battle and to be accepted in an American society that remained biased against them even after they returned home as heroes.  THE GHOSTS OF HERO STREET, is the compelling and inspiring account of a street of soldiers--and men--who would not be denied their dignity or their honor.##


NOTE:  You can follow The Ghosts of Hero Street on Facebook.

 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Carlos Harrison is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, editor and writer of more than a dozen books in English and Spanish. A former national and international correspondent for the Fox News Channel, Harrison also has written two award-winning television documentaries and seven feature-length screenplays, as well as hundreds of newspaper articles and dozens of magazine pieces.  Visit him at www.carlosharrison.com.