Huff Post archive: Irish and Mexicans Need Not Apply (Happy St Patricks Day)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-mackey/irish-and-mexicans-need-n_b_117030.html

Posted August 5, 2008

"Would we desert you now,

Flag of the Free;

When we a solemn vow,

Flag of the Free;

You from all harm to save,

Made when we crossed the wave,

And you a welcome gave,

Flag of the Free?"

The Irish-American's Song, 1864

In the dark days of the American Civil War, when the very existence of the Union was in question, help came from those new immigrants -- mainly Irish and German -- who answered the call to arms when many native-born citizens found better things to do or paid others to fight for them. The Irish, who began to pour into the United States in the 1840s, were specifically targeted as somewhat less-than-human -- signs saying "No Dogs or Irish Allowed," were common in America's largest cities. My own great-great-grandfather was driven out of Tennessee in 1860 due to his "Irishness" and his abhorrence of slavery. He did what many of his fellow Paddys (and yes, his name was Patrick) did. He joined the Union Army and fought for the country that had rejected him.

I had the honor, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to serve with one of the finest soldiers I ever knew. Raul was a first-rate soldier, and our company clerk. He had a family -- a wife and two small children -- that he supported on his meager salary as a Specialist (for those unfamiliar with the rank, it is between Private First Class and Sergeant; the same rank as a Corporal in the combat arms). When his buddies were out drinking at night, he was attending night school, trying to get an associates degree.

And Raul, as he admitted to me in a blown up building in Panama, was an illegal alien. As a young teenager, he slipped across the border from Mexico, literally swimming the Rio Grande to cross into Texas. After obtaining documentation -- and I never asked if it was real or fake -- he got himself into high school in Texas. Keep in mind, this is a 14- or 15-year-old kid without family enrolling himself in high school in a foreign country. He finished high school, and immediately enlisted in the Army. I met him a couple of years into his first tour.

I went to war with Raul when the United States invaded Panama. In that country, he, I, and two other fellows cleared a building full of Panamanian Defense Force (PDF) troops, without firing a shot. As a native Spanish speaker, Raul talked the PDF troops into surrendering. It was amazing and effective. Raul and I would walk the streets of Panama City doing police duty, he translating for his "gringo" lieutenant. After we came back home, I talked him into reenlisting for another tour, this time as a military policeman. He left the unit, and we all went to Desert Storm a month later. I lost track of him after that.

I served my country for 26 years. I was born in Arkansas and I am not an immigrant.

FULL story at link.

[AlphaCentauri]

1. K&R

[RB TexLa]

2. And we are supposed to believe that because the Anglos let us play golf with them they don't still

think like this.

Sure they don't.

[EFerrari]

3. They do and they all comment at HuffPo. n/t