Early Life
Laurel was born in heavily Hispanic and Democratic Laredo in south Texas. He graduated in 1937 from Martin High School. He married the former Elsa Gonzalez, who was a descendant from one of the founders of Laredo. The couple had a son and a daughter.
Laurel thereafter graduated from the Catholic-affiliated Loyola University in New Orleans. He then entered the United States Army Air Corps, in which he served from 1941 to 1945. He was an airplane mechanic on B-17s and B29s and attained the rank of staff sergeant. After military service in World War II, Laurel enrolled in a pre-law curriculum at the University of Texas at Austin. He then completed his legal studies at the South Texas College of Law in Houston. He opened his law practice in Laredo in 1948.
Read more about this topic: Oscar M. Laurel
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