Macario García was born on January 2, 1920, in Villa de Castaño, Mexico, to Luciano and Josefa García. His family moved to Fort Bend County, Texas, in 1923 to pick crops in Sugar Land. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942 to fight in World War II, he was wounded at Normandy in June 1944, recovered, and rejoined Company B, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. In November 1944 at Grosshau, Germany, García destroyed two German machine-gun emplacements and, though wounded, secured his company's position. For these actions, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman at the White House on August 23, 1945, along with other commendations including the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Clusters, the Purple Heart, and the Medal Mérito Militar, the Mexican equivalent of the U.S. Medal of Honor. In Texas in September 1945, he was denied service at a local restaurant because he was Hispanic and was ultimately arrested. His case, reflecting the treatment many minority veterans faced after military service, became highly visible in the early years of the American Civil Rights movement, and several groups including LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens, came to his aid. García became a U.S. citizen on June 25, 1947, worked for the Veterans Administration for 25 years, served in the U.S. Army Reserves and attained the rank of Command Sergeant Major, and died in a car accident in 1972. He is buried in Houston National Cemetery, and a Houston Army Reserve Center and a school in Sugar Land are named in his honor.