Then college student Skyler Howell learned three years ago that his hometown of Mercedes had overlooked Dr. Hector P. Garcia in failing to honor the local icon as the state of Texas had years before.

In 2009, the state of Texas established the third Wednesday of September as Dr. Hector P. Garcia Recognition Day. The annual commemoration day is a fitting tribute to a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient who was a physician and founded the American GI Forum. Garcia is among the foremost Mexican-American civil rights figures of the 20^th Century – and he was a Mercedes Tiger.

And so accordingly – after a presentation from Howell – the Mercedes City Commission in early September 2023 joined the state in declaring every third Wednesday as Dr. Hector P. Garcia Day.

“It didn’t make sense that the state had honored Dr. Garcia with a day, but his hometown had not done so,” said Howell, who is now on the staff of Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez.

For Howell, working to honor Garcia with a locally recognized day was just the start of his efforts to magnify the connection of the civil rights leader to Mercedes. Three years later – on September 24 of this year – a section of Ohio Avenue will bear Garcia’s name. The designation is ceremonial, and Howell describes it “as a topper name” to Ohio Avenue and will not require changes in mailing addresses for local businesses and government offices.

“Dr. Garcia is a great example of the hometown heroes we have in Mercedes,” said Howell, who successfully lobbied the City Commission for the ceremonial street renaming. “It’s about inspiring people in our community, especially the younger generations, that you can be from here and dream big.”

A Veteran Becomes A National Leader

Garcia had audacious dreams for a Mexican-American youth of his generation.

A 1932 graduate of Mercedes High School, he began attending Edinburg Junior College and often hitchhiked to attend classes. Garcia would eventually transfer to the University of Texas in Austin and earned a degree in zoology. He was among the top five of his class. Next would come studying medicine and earning a doctorate in medicine from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

In World War II, he was placed in command of infantry and combat engineers before being transferred to the medical corps. Dr. Garcia was a Bronze Star Medal veteran. After World War II, he settled in Corpus Christi and opened a medical practice where he was known to treat all patients regardless of their ability to pay.

Dr. Garcia became a local leader in speaking up and opposing the segregation of schools and public facilitates. He became a national civil rights leader in intervening and seeking the assistance of then-Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson in having a South Texas soldier – Felix Longoria - buried at Arlington National Ceremony after his widow was denied the use of a funeral chapel in Three Rivers.

It led to Garcia’s founding of the American GI Forum to assist Hispanic veterans and to also play an activist role in organizing voter registration efforts and opposing poll taxes. In 1984, Dr. Garcia was honored by President Ronald Reagan with a Medal of Freedom – the highest civilian award given in the United States.

Going Beyond Honors & Titles

“He could fight fire with fire,” Howell said of Dr. Garcia, who passed in 1996 at the age of 82. “At the end of the day, Dr. Garcia was about getting stuff done in a world where people often say one thing and then never do anything about it. His word was his bond.”

Learning more about Garcia should go beyond his iconic status as a historical figure, Howell said.

“We need to know more about the person, not just the titles,” said Howell, who now serves on the board of the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Foundation. “We should know more about his day-to-day life, how he led others and his work as a physician and his life as a husband and father.”

The ceremonial renaming of a local street to go with the Mercedes library already named after Dr. Garcia is another step on bonding a South Texas historical figure with his hometown.

- Ric Cavazos

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