This book, “Jesus Mendoza: Letters of his Life,” contains over 250 letters written between him and his wife, Delia (and a few other family members). The author has translated these from Spanish.
The first group begins with the courtship of Jesus Mendoza and Delia Garza in 1934 and ends in 1940. Jesus wrote these early letters after a long day of hard work at the Loteria. The Loteria was a family business similar to a carnival stand where the public played for prizes. Jesus writes with urgency whether Delia’s father, Severo Garza, would give his blessing to allow Jesus to marry his daughter, Delia. Jesus’s writing expresses his love and affection for Delia in each letter while detailing the events unfolding around him. The last letter of the group ends in 1940 when Jesus registers for the draft for World War II.
The second group of letters begins a transition from working in the Loteria to immersion in World War II. By 1944 Jesus was in the Army, fighting in Germany. During the most challenging and horrendously violent battles, he still found time to write to his wife and family. Jesus never mentioned the horrors of war to his wife. In one of his letters, he says [translated], “The Mexican Revolution was nothing compared to this war.” Delia had no idea how bad it was until Canacho, his brother, showed her a letter that Jesus had written to him. Jesus told Delia how fortunate he was that Diositio (God) and the Virgen of Guadalupe had kept him safe despite the intense fighting. He managed, somehow, to write to Delia from the foxhole. Jesus told her several times [translated], “I promise, the war will not change me.”
In the last letter in1949 (almost four years after returning from the war), he tells Delia (translated), “My very esteemed and fine wife, I gladly write this letter to tell you I arrived home well, thank God.”
