Time Line: 1914-1936

1914

January 17 - Hector P. Garcia is born in Llera, Tamaulipas state, Mexico, to Jose and Faustina Perez Garcia, both teachers. His siblings are: Jose Antonio, Emilia, Clotilde, Cuitlahuac, Xicotencatl, and Dalia.

World War I begins.

1917

Garcia family flees Mexican revolution to Mercedes, Texas, where Hector's father, Jose A. Garcia, becomes a partner in the family dry goods business.

1920

Mexican revolution ends.

1924

U.S. - Mexico Border Patrol established.

1925

Immigration of Mexican nationals to the United States deemed no cause for concern, based on the scientific argument that Mexicans are an inferior race of people.

1929

League of Latin American Citizens (LULAC) founded in Corpus Christi, Texas.

15-year old Garcia joins the Citizens Military Training Corps. This peacetime branch of the United States Army held a military camp one-month a year in San Antonio, one of the largest urban locations for Mexican-Americans in the United States.

1932

Hector P. Garcia graduates from a segregated, Mexican-only high school. He begins attending Edinburg Jr. College, hitchhiking 30 miles a day to attend classes and getting home 9 p.m. at night.

Through the Citizens Military Training Corps, Garcia receives a commission equivalent to second lieutenant in the U.S. Infantry. He benefits from extending his experience out of the Valley and interacting with other people.

1933

Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes president.

1934

Hector P. Garcia enters University of Texas at Austin.

1936

Hector P. Garcia graduates from University of Texas at Austin with a BA in zoology, finishing as one of the top10 students in the class.