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>> This isn't Christmas, obviously.

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Is it ever in this state?

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I hope you had took that in tape too.

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It would be a great thing.

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I wrote this for an airline magazine.

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You know those free things that
people steal when they tell you

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to take, and it takes about 11 minutes.

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You can time me if you want.

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By the time the Japanese Imperial forces
were deep into the mopping up operation

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in the Bataan Peninsula, preparations for the
siege and fall of Corregidor were also underway.

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One of the defenders was Clemente
Garcia, a 23 year old youngster

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from Mercedes, Texas down in the valley.

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He was born not in Mercedes,
but in northern Mexico.

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His mother, two brothers and a sister had
crossed the Rio Grande at Rio Rico, Tamaulipas,

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Mexico and settled in Mercedes for some two or
three years after the death of Don Clemente,

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Senior, a victim of the Spanish
influenza epidemic in the 20's.

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Don Clemente had been a veteran
of the Mexican Revolution.

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While his death, as he was in enlisted careers,

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his widow began to receive a smallish
pension from the Mexican government.

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Mrs. Garcia's decision to cross the Rio Grande
was an economic one, and that's no different

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from that made by hundreds of 1000's
of European and other immigrants

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who settled in the United States.

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The choice of Mercedes was no accident.

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However, many newly arriving
Mexican nationals made it a type

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of halfway house before they spread out all over
Texas, the Midwestern United States and beyond.

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One of the many Garcias and of the many
Garcias, these settled in Mercedes.

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Aurora, an only
daughter, did needlepoint

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and constructed some remarkably intricate
paper designs used as cemetery decorations.

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Two of the youngsters, Arturo
and Medardo, were apprenticed off

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to neighborhood panaderias, bakeries.

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Clemente, clearly the brightest
according to the family,

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enrolled at the all Texas Mexican
neighborhood school, North Ward Elementary.

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He logged in the mandatory six years
there and at age 16, had learned to read

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and write enough English to hire on as
a sack boy for a local grocery store.

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Later on, he became a delivery
man as well as a driver.

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On his 21st birthday, he came to our
home and knocked on the east porch door.

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I was the only one home at
the time, and invited him.

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He thanked me but said he was
in the middle of a delivery.

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He had stopped, he said, to ask my father's
advice on some matter but that he'd call again.

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Our people came to the valley as had his with
the Eskandon Expedition and colonists of 1749.

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Our family happened to live in the
northern bank of the Rio Grande

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when it became part of the American Union.

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His ancestors had lived in the southern bank.

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And thus, with the proclamation of
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,

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they became Mexican nationals
and we, American citizens.

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Since Clemente had no father
he called on mine for advice.

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This is in the late 30's, and there
were still some strong remnants

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of the old patriarchal system
established in 1750.

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It's a serious matter Manuel,
he said to my father.

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And this was the obligatory phrase, and it
can accomplish almost anything from a request

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for my father as a sponsor, to
ask for a girl's hand in marriage,

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to putting in a good word, dar una
recomendacion, for whatever was needed.

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In short, almost anything, but certainly
something of importance to the petition.

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The Great Depression was still
hanging on in the Valley and elsewhere

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and steady jobs are hard to come by.

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In Garcia's case, though
it was something different.

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During one of these deliveries
in the Anglo Texan side of town,

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he had met a man named Claude Rodgers,
according to Clemente, Rogers is going to own

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and operate a Gulf station on
the Texas Mexican part of town.

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And Rogers had wanted Clemente if he wanted
to work there, had asked him to full time.

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Clemente had not known what to say to this, but
Rogers resolved it when he said, think it over.

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Come by in a week or so.

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So my father listened to Clemente,
nodded, and then pointing to a chair.

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Clemente sat down, and one of my sisters
brought him a tall glass of limeade.

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I was about to leave him, but my
father said I could stay and I did so.

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The upshot was that he took the job
at the gas station, which was directly

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across from our house, and I would see
him every day on my way to work or my way

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to school at North Ward Elementary.

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In November of 1940, a week before Thanksgiving
as I was crossing North Texas Avenue

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on my way home, I heard a
shrill series of whistles.

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It was Clemente.

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Aquí, he said.

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Over here.

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Then he grinned and yelled out
andale, come on, hurry it up.

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And he was standing under the carwash
and surrounded by Gulf oil cans.

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What's up, I asked.

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Look and he pointed.

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I said at what, they're oil cans.

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He said, yeah, I've been saving them.

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And I asked, can you sell
them like milk bottles?

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And he laughed and he said, no, I'm
going to weld them, all of them.

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I'm going to weld them.

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I'm going to make as a Santa
Claus for Christmas.

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Really? Out of cans?

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He said, yeah, you just wait.

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And then I said, can I help?

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So well, you'd better.

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It's my Christmas present for you.

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For me, and he said, sure.

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We will begin by rinsing
them and drying them out.

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What's your dad going to give you anyway?

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A pair of khaki pants.

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Oh, and a leather belt from
Madam Mars [phonetic].

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And well, this will be your
third Christmas present.

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Everybody's entitled to three, you
know, just like los magos, the Magi.

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Well, Thanksgiving came and went.

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And every afternoon after running
errands, and doing the daily chores,

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I'd run over to Rogers Gulf,
rinse some more cans

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and watch Clemente weld them
for the Santa Claus.

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We're going to put it up
there on top of the carwash.

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I'll get me some good strong wire, and nothing
will blow it down, not even the Gulf wind.

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And Clemente finished it
a week before Christmas.

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And then in January, on the day
of the Magi, he received a notice

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from the local Selective Service Board.

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He took and passed his physical in San Antonio
in March of 1941, and he was on his way

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to the Philippines by October of the same year.

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What letters he wrote to his mother
were brought to my father to read.

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And my father also translated
the fateful telegram sent

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by the War Department in the summer of 1942.

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The Santa Claus stayed on top of the carwash
for some 10 years after World War II,

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rusted out finally, but I remembered
it was big, and red and white

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and held there by big black boots, perfect.

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In the way of the world of
the living, I forgot about it,

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and I'd almost forgotten Clemente Garcia,
La Norteñita as we call him.

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It was an affectionate name
and feminine but he was called

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that in the singular in honor
of his favorite song.

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Las Norteñitas, Those
oh so sweet northern girls.

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Then one December day, I went down to Mercedes
on some now forgotten family business.

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Urban renewal had taken care of Rogers'
station and the house in which I was born.

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In its place, it was a parking lot,

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but across the street Rogers' station
had been replaced by a tire store.

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It was owned by a man named
Leopolo Martinez.

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And so I crossed the street to see Martinez.

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I thought that I saw the
Gulf oil can Santa Claus.

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I walked on, and I was sure I had
seen it again, somewhere, but how?

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I ran inside the store, and then almost knocked
over down a clerk who was taking inventory.

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Oh, it's you, doctor.

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How are you?

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I stopped and looked at him
for some sign of recognition.

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Found none.

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I'm sorry.

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I said, Who's your father?

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Lotario Davido [phonetic], the truck driver.

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He knows you.

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I nodded and apologized again.

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And he couldn't help noticing my searching
for something and asked, can I help you?

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I didn't know what to say, where to begin.

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Images of the 30's, 40's, and
50's flicked on and off again

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as in a slideshow until I
finally said, no thanks.

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I thought I'd seen something.

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It's nothing.

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And he nodded.

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As I turned to go, the image flashed
on again as a reflection somewhere.

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It was nothing more than a blown up
Michelin tire man waving, smiling at me,

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and someone had painted him up as Santa Claus.

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The [inaudible] youngster looked at
it and he said, oh, that it's a new line.

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You know, some of the older people come
in and stare at it for the longest time.

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You know why they do that?

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I nodded slightly and then on an
impulse asked did, you ever know

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or hear of the widow Garcia
on Hidalgo and First?

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He said sure.

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She must be close to 90, 95, 100 maybe.

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She's still alive, you know.

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Lives there with a daughter, I think.

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And with the memories I said to myself, thanks.

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What's your name anyway?

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John, sir.

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John. Well, thanks again.

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Yes sir. And he went back to his inventory.

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The Michelin tire man, it
looked grotesque somehow.

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But and again, somehow, it
looked like my third Christmas.

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My Gulf oil can Santa Claus,
the one I got before the war.

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Thank you.

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[ Applause ]