Domingo Treviño was born on July 4, 1915, in Las Nuevas, Texas, what is now known as Bentsen State Park. He was a student in the Tabasco Consolidated Independent School District, now La Joya Independent School District, until the fifth grade, at which point he left school to help his father work the family farm.

In 1938, Domingo married Elena Villarreal, and in 1939, they moved to Ojo de Agua, now known as Abram. From 1940 through 1943, with the birth of two daughters, Olivia and Oralia, Domingo took on jobs clearing brushland and planting citrus while farming and raising livestock to support his family.

On February 8, 1944, at the age of 29, Domingo responded to a draft and joined the U.S. Army. Their third child, Reynaldo, was born two days later. Upon completing his training, Private Treviño was shipped to the front lines in France. On November 25, 1944, during a battle against German forces, he sustained shrapnel wounds to his leg and was captured by the Germans. Along with fellow soldiers from the valley, Private Treviño was confined in “STALAG LUFT IV” camp near Berlin. During his captivity as a prisoner of war, he was forced to work with other POWs, digging a tunnel through the mountains during the bitter cold winter.

In February 1945, a Russian offensive threatened to engulf STALAG LUFT IV, and about 6,000 POWs were ordered to leave the camp on foot. This march, known as “the Black March,” was marked by great hardship and was recognized as one of the most brutal treatments of American Allied forces. On May 7, 1945, after 86 days of marching on starvation rations, the Black March ended on the eastern edge of Germany, where captives from several STALAG camps were consolidated into one large camp, STALAG 357. Private Treviño recalled hearing heavy bombing not far from the camp. A fellow prisoner translated information overheard from German guards, who spoke about Berlin under fire and confirmed that Adolf Hitler was dead. The next morning, they awoke to find the main gate to the camp wide open and no Germans in sight.

Private Treviño and a group of other Mexican Americans fled from the camp and began searching for American or Allied forces. After being discovered by American personnel while walking down the streets of Czechoslovakia, they were picked up and flown to France, where they were issued new clothing to replace what they had worn since their capture six months earlier.

On November 16, 1945, Private Treviño was honorably discharged from the military. Upon returning home, he got a job as a bus driver for the La Joya School District while still tending to his livestock. He managed a small tavern and, if that wasn’t enough, also worked at a produce packing company until one o’clock in the morning.

Between 1946 and 1950, their youngest three children—Rene, Esther, and Orfelinda—were born. In 1962, Domingo Treviño was hired by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) at the former Moore Air Base near Mission, TX, to work for the Screwworm Eradication Program. He worked in this position until he retired in 1981 at the age of 66. Mr. Treviño continued farming and ranching in partnership with his eldest son, Reynaldo, until his death on August 17, 2005, at the age of 90.