Person:Cruz Garcia (1)

1930 United States Federal Census
Name: Cruz Garcia
Gender: Male
Birth Year: abt 1899
Birthplace: Mexico
Race: Mexican (Latino)
Home in 1930: Marysville, Yuba, California
Map of Home: View Map
Marital Status: Married
Immigration Year: 1907
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse's Name: Pasquala Garcia
Father's Birthplace: Mexico
Mother's Birthplace: Mexico
Household Members: Name Age
Cruz Garcia 31
Pasquala Garcia 29
Severino Garcia 14
Charles Garcia 12
Frank Garcia 10
Ruth Garcia 8
Elias Garcia 6
Rogelio Garcia 6
Manuel Garcia 5
Joe Cruz Garcia 1 [1 7/12]
Pedro Oriosco 25 [Brother-in-Law]

1940 United States Federal Census
Name: C Joe Garcia
Age: 46
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1894
Gender: Male
Race: White
Birthplace: Mexico
Marital Status: Married
Relation to Head of House: Head
Home in 1940: Stockton, San Joaquin, California
Street: So Locust
House Number: 452
Farm: No
Inferred Residence in 1935: Stockton, San Joaquin, California
Residence in 1935: Same, San Joaquin, California
Resident on farm in 1935: No
Sheet Number: 4B
Number of Household in Order of Visitation: 14
Occupation: Laborer
House Owned or Rented: Rented
Value of Home or Monthly Rental if Rented: 14.00
Attended School or College: No
Highest Grade Completed: Elementary school, 8th grade
Class of Worker: Wage or salary worker in private work
Weeks Worked in 1939: 20
Income: 360
Income Other Sources: No
Household Members: Name Age
C Joe Garcia 46
Pascuala Garcia 36
E Frank Garcia 16
R Gottfried Garcia 16
Manuel Garcia 15
C Joe Garcia 12
Theresa Garcia 9
L Jesus Garcia 6
Bobby Garcia 4
Patricia Garcia 3
Frank Garcia 20
I Dolores Garcia 19
C Frank Garcia 12

U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989
Name: Jose C Garcia
Gender: Male
Residence Year: 1926
Street address: 2122 E Scotts
Residence Place: Stockton, California
Spouse: Pascuala C Garcia
Publication Title: Stockton, California, City Directory, 1926

U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989
Name: Jose C Garcia
Gender: Male
Residence Year: 1958
Street address: 916 E Sonora
Residence Place: Stockton, California
Occupation: Warehouseman
Spouse: Pasquala Garcia
Publication Title: Stockton, California, City Directory, 1958

U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989
Name: Jose C Garcia
Gender: Male
Residence Year: 1960
Residence Place: Stockton, California
Occupation: Warehouseman
Spouse: Pasquala O Garcia
Publication Title: Stockton, California, City Directory, 1960

Stockton's Garcia clan never hesitates to answer the call

By Howard Lachtman ,Record Staff Writer
November 10, 1997 12:00 AM

Veterans Day has a special meaning to members of Stockton's Garcia family.

Forty-four of its members (most direct descendants of Jose Cruz Garcia and his wife, Pascuala, along with a few in-laws have worn the uniform of the U.S. Army, Navy or Marine Corps from World War II to the Gulf War.

"That amounts to some 70 percent of all males eligible for military service," said Jose (Joe Garcia II, 69, of Stockton. That remarkable record of service began with seven of the eight sons of Jose and Pascuala Garcia, who came to Stockton from Los Angeles in 1930.

The senior Garcia found work as a warehouseman at Flotil Cannery (later Tillie Lewis Foods. His eldest son Ralph, today a Modesto resident, did not serve because of his war work and his children. But four of the younger brothers served in World War II and three in Korea.

And the long line of Garcias in uniform has since extended in the 1990s, when Jose Cruz Garcia's great grandson, Carlos Valles, joined the Marine Corps and his engineer unit was activated for the Gulf War, "I know a lot of our family has been in the service because the subject comes up in conversations at family reunions," said Valles, 26, a Fresno resident and Riverdale elementary school teacher, who also
is a staff sergeant in the Marine Reserves.

"It was an encouragement for me to join up because I knew it was a part of my family's history," Valles said. "It's kind of exciting to know I'm part of this legacy. For me, it's a very positive legacy." Valles was ordered up with his unit when Iraq invaded Kuwait, but the conflict ended before they were sent to the Mideast. His Marine service ends in January.

"There's always some kind of conflict around the world," he said. "If anything happens by January, the possibility is there." Working-class kids "We were not a military family," Joe Garcia said. "Our parents and grandparents were not military men. We're just ordinary soldiers -- grunts, if you will."

Garcia, an Army veteran who served in Korea at the same time as brother (Marine sergeant Jess, lives in Stockton. So does Manuel Garcia, 73, an Army vet whose World War II service landed him on Omaha Beach in Normandy, and Marine veteran Robert Garcia, 62. Jess now lives in Seattle.

Of the three other brothers, former Marine Frank Garcia Sr. and Navy vet Charlie Garcia Sr., are deceased. Elias Garcia, a Lockeford resident and World War II Navy veteran, is battling Parkinson's disease.

Military service is a legacy that links the Garcia fathers, sons, grandsons,
nephews and sons-in-law. For many of these men, Joe Garcia said, that tradition
is more meaningful than medals.

"To us, it means loyalty and patriotism to our country. We're not heroes. We were working-class kids and everyone felt it was their duty. This was our country, and if our country called us, we went. There was never a question in our minds."

That spirit has been shared by succeeding generations. During the war in Vietnam, for example, 11 of Jose Cruz Garcia's grandsons -- nearly every eligible man -- served in the military, including Stocktonians Godfrey Garcia (Army and Raymond Gardea (Navy. Keeping the faith Veterans Day, being celebrated Tuesday this year, brings its own share of memories to Garcia family members.

"I look at my uncles' photos, all varying in ages, and serving in different branches of the armed forces, and I feel very proud of them," said Marie Garcia, Manuel Garcia's daughter and a teacher at Garfield Elementary School in Stockton.

"They're fine men who've kept a very low profile," she added. "It was just a commitment they all had to serve their country. And this is a wonderful time to remember them."

Ruth Curley, 73, one of four sisters who kept the home fires burning during World War II, remembered those years when her older brothers and husband Joe were away in the service.

"I always thought they did marvelously," Curley said. "They never did complain about anything while they were in the service." A retired saleswoman who volunteers as a cook at St. Mary's Dining Hall in Stockton, Curley remembered how her diminished family held together during the war years, thanks largely to the faith and confidence of her mother Pascuala Garcia.

"She was a real strong woman and she led the tribe," said Curley, who worked at Stockton Air Field during the war and kept a steady stream of letters flowing from Stockton to front lines. "We had to write. That was a must with my mom. We wouldn't hear from them (the brothers for quite a while, but there was always somebody
writing them every day."

Not knowing the fate of loved ones could take an emotional toll. But the family at home proved as resilient as its soldiers and sailors. "We hoped and prayed that the boys would come back safe," Curley said. All did, but some cousins were not so lucky. One was wounded in Italy; another's ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. "My mom promised the Virgin Mary that if her boys came back she'd
make a pilgrimage to the church in Texas she had attended as a young girl. For some reason, it was special to her," Curley said. "It was a hard promise to keep because she still had young children at home and she hadn't been back to Texas since her marriage, but all the boys came back safely. And when she was able to go, Mom kept her promise."

In charge When Joe Garcia arrived in the Korean port of Pusan as a private in the
quartermaster corps, he was put in charge of a food warehouse. "I threw myself into my work and almost ran the place by myself," he said. "I was authorized to sign my officer's name for ration requests. I had my own room, my own vehicle and a lot of privileges that other enlisted men didn't have."

Far north at the front lines, handling Marine artillery communications, brother Jess had it tougher. "I used to send him what I called CARE packages," Joe Garcia
said. "To this day whenever we're together at a gathering, he gets incensed when I remind him. He's a Marine and he doesn't like to hear he depended on the Army."

Hitting the beach Older brother Manuel Garcia could have used some brotherly help. Shipped overseas at age 18, the first time he had been away from home and family,
he landed at Omaha Beach on June 8, 1944. There, he saw soldiers' bodies floating in the surf and debris of wrecked landed barges, and knew he was a long way from home. A member of an anti-aircraft unit, he recalled of D-Day plus two, "The battle was still going on. We had a foothold, but we couldn't move. German planes were overhead and they were strafing, but we couldn't use our guns because our equipment had not yet been delivered." When the guns came a week later, Garcia followed the advance of the Allied armies into France and Germany. "Our 90mm gun units would leapfrog, advance to a newly captured city, take positions and defend against any attacking German planes," he said. "I remember digging in outside Rheims, and they still had the old foxholes from World War I. That's where I camped." Fifty years after his landing at Omaha Beach, Garcia returned to Normandy.

"I didn't recognize any of it," he said. "It all had been landscaped and looked a lot different than I remembered it. But it was a pretty emotional time for me." One of the souvenirs he brought back from France was a small bag of beach sand. Whenever he puts his hand in it, Manuel Garcia remembers a long ago day in June ... .

Some Garcias took off their uniforms and resumed their lives with little adjustment.
Some came back from war with problems that still persist. Joe Garcia points to a nephew who served in Vietnam. "He's still not good," Joe Garcia said. "He still wakes up screaming. He'll probably never be straight from that war."
But for many Garcia family members, the 11th of November is a time to remember the humor as well as the rigors of military service -- and to give thanks that the sons and descendants of Jose and Pascuala came home. "We know what we did," Joe Garcia said. "We're all proud of one another."

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