History column: This Hispanic WWI soldier was first to earn Distinguished Service Cross

The generation that fought World War I is now gone, but their legacy of bravery continues to live on.  One of those figures was Private Marcelino Serna of El Paso, one of the most highly decorated men of the war.  As an immigrant, he fought with uncommon bravery to defend his new home.

Serna was born in April 1896 in a mining camp in Chihuahua, one of the Mexican states bordering Texas.  His family was poor, but Serna wanted a better life for himself.  In 1915, determined to find work, he left his family at the age of 19.  He came to El Paso in search of the American Dream.  Initially, he did not speak English but was able to find work on a railroad maintenance crew.  From there, he found his way to Colorado where he worked as a farm hand.

In 1917, the United States entered World War I and initiated the first draft since the Civil War.  Federal officials stopped Serna in Colorado and asked his draft status.  In spite of his status as a Mexican citizen, Serna, like so many other immigrants, volunteered to fight for his new country.  After three weeks of basic training at Camp Funston, Kansas, he was assigned to the 335^th Infantry of the 89^th Division and sent to France.

In France, his unit found itself in the middle of fierce battles, some of the worst faced by American units.  German assaults were relentless.  Casualties were high.  Serna and the men of his unit fought on.  On September 12, 1918, his unit was pinned down by intense machine gun fire.  Twelve troops were killed.  Serna volunteered to scout ahead to find a way to knock out the German positions.  He crept alone until he reached the machine gun, threw four grenades at them, killing six.  He captured eight others and returned to his unit.  Two weeks later, he followed a German sniper to the enemy trenches and laid down fire.  He killed 26 German soldiers and captured the remaining 24.

For his actions, he received the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest medal in the army.  He was personally decorated by Gen. John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces.  Marshal Ferdinand Foch, commander of the French forces, awarded him the Croix de Guerre, France’s highest award.  The Italian army also honored him for his bravery.  He was the first Hispanic ever awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.  When army officials discovered that he was a citizen of Mexico, the army offered to send him back to Mexico as a hero.  Serna declined, preferring to stay with his fellow soldiers and help his adopted country fight on to final victory.

He received two Purple Hearts for injuries under fire. In November 1918, just days before the end of the war, he was shot in the legs by a German sniper. He returned home from the war as one of the most highly decorated Texans of World War I.

In May 1919, Serna was given an honorable discharge and left the army.  He married in 1922, a long marriage that produced six children.  He officially became a U. S. citizen in 1924.  He took a series of various jobs before settling in El Paso and working at a canning factory.  Not long afterward, he began working at El Paso’s Fort Bliss as a civilian worker in the quartermaster’s office.  Some time after the opening of the William Beaumont General Hospital at Fort Bliss, Serna took a job working at the facility.  He spent many years working as a plumber, still helping his fellow soldiers by keeping the hospital running, before his retirement in 1961.  He remained active in his church and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The only Hispanic to receive the Medal of Honor during World War I was Private David Barkley of Laredo, and one of only three Texans to be so awarded. Barkley died on November 9, 1918, two days before the end of the war, when he drowned while completing a scouting mission against the German lines. He was only 19. In spite of Serna’s actions and numerous efforts by politicians and community organizations, he never received the Medal of Honor during his lifetime.

Serna died at his home in El Paso in 1992 at the age of 95.  He was buried with full military honors.  In 1995, Texas Congressman Ron Coleman proposed legislation to posthumously award Serna with the Medal of Honor. The measure did not pass. In 2017, however, the port of entry at Tornillo, just southeast of El Paso, was renamed in Serna’s honor. Another congressional attempt to honor Serna with the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2021 failed.  In 2022, State Sen. Cesar Blanco of El Paso pushed through a measure that gave Serna the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor, one of only 16 Texans ever so honored.

Ken Bridges is a writer, historian and native Texan. He holds a doctorate from the University of North Texas. Bridges can be reached by email at drkenbridges@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Bridges: World War I soldier fought for his adopted country