Marcelino Serna

Private Marcelino Serna was an undocumented Mexican immigrant who joined the United States Army and became the most decorated soldier from Texas in World War I. Serna was the first Hispanic to be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Serna was born in the city of Chihuahua, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, to a poor family. In 1916, when he wasyears old, Serna decided to enter the United States, by crossing the Rio Grande and going to El Paso, Texas in search of a job and better way of life. Serna, did not know how to speak English and could only find employment that paid low wages. It wasnt long before he found himself working as a farm hand in a sugar beet field in Denver, Colorado.

Source: Wikipedia