The Caribbean island known officially as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is an unincorporated
territory of the United States. And while it did not have its commonwealth status during
World War II, its men and women have been classed as US citizens since the
Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 and, as such, were drafted into the US military during the war,
serving in all its major branches. The draft was, well, a draft, and many Peurto Ricans
wanted nothing to do with the war. Though in that same breath, many did, and, volunteers or not,
the territory attributed more than its fair share of war heroes to the Allied cause. But
Puerto Rico's involvement didn't end there, and in this video, we're going to discuss the territory's
major contributions the Allied victory in the Second World War, aiming to revive the stories
of a people who packed a far harder punch than most of us contemporary folk might realise.
While over 65,000 Peurto Ricans served across all branches of
the US armed forces throughout World War II, the majority served in the US
Army's 65th Infantry Regiment and the Peurto Rico National Guard, or PRNG.
Before Pearl Harbour and America's declaration of war, the PRNG was
already dressing for war, making ready the 295th and the 296th Infantry Regiments,
which were each around 1,360 strong at that time. While the PRNGs numbers grew,
many of its men were assigned to the 65th Infantry Regiment, and after America's declaration of war,
many Peurto Ricans living on the island territory and the US mainland started filling the ranks
of the 65th, other units in the US Army, and other branches of the US armed forces directly.
The 65th Infantry Regiment was a racially segregated unit comprised mostly of white
Puerto Ricans, and the unit was assigned to Panama in 1943, where it was tasked with
protecting the Panama Canal, before beginning its journey to France via North Africa and
Italy in March 1944. As for the 295th and 296th Infantry Regiments of the PRNG, they undertook
surveillance and monitoring operations in Puerto Rico and reinforced the 65th's — and other,
"regular" US Army unit's — operations elsewhere in the Caribbean, and when the 65th ventured to
France, the troops of the PRNG either replaced the 65th in the Caribbean or followed them to Europe.
The 65th, bolstered by men from the PRNG, landed in France on the 22nd of September 1944,
and by mid-December, the 65th was fighting the Germans in Piera Cava in the Maritime Alps. The
unit defeated the German 34th Infantry Divisions' 107th Infantry Regiment, but for their victory,
they suffered forty-seven casualties. After the Maritime Alps, the 65th was sent to Mannheim,
Germany, where it handled occupation duties, such as anti-sabotage missions;
here, it took a further twenty-three casualties. The 65th then participated
in some in other Allied campaigns in Europe before leaving for home in November 1945.
William Feliciano Ruiz was in a "cannon company" in the 65th Infantry Regiment. Surviving the war,
he published a short article about his time in the Maritime Alps, writing: "As we were climbing
that narrow and tortuous road with several feet of snow in the hillsides, we began to listen to
the clatter of machine guns and the explosions of artillery. [...] We positioned our cannons at
around five o’clock in the afternoon [...] [and] had the assignment of shooting the first 45 lb.
bullet at the Germans [...] [W]e began [...] in that war theater with temperatures reaching
below zero and with no previous combat experience. [...] Our primary mission was to have continuous
shifts of cannons firing night and day aimed at the Germans who were entrenched in Fort Forca,
in the Piera Cava area, and give support to the infantrymen of Third Battalion. At night the sky
would ignite with artillery and occasionally you could hear a soldier sing a tango [...]."
Puerto Ricans who joined "regular" units of the US Army — not the PRNG
or racially segmented 65th Infantry Regiment — fought in Europe as well,
notably in the Battle of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.
Frank Bonilla, for instance, born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents,
fought on the front lines in the Battle of the Bulge for almost a month,
ending up in a hospital in France, where they treated ab injury he sustained in the battle;
he received a Silver Star and a Purple Heart for his actions.
While neither a part of the Normandy Landings or the Battle of the Bulge,
Puerto Rican Agustín Ramos Calero received a Silver Star for his bravery in the Battle of the
Colmar Pocket in Alsace, France between the 20th of January and the 9th of February 1945. Here,
Calero attacked a unit of Germans on his own, killing ten, capturing twenty-one,
and earning himself the nickname "One-Man Army." But that was just one of Calero's awards;
he ended up being the most decorated Puerto Rican and Hispanic soldier of the war.
But the triumphs and sacrifices of Puerto Ricans in "regular" US Army
units weren't limited to Europe; Puerto Ricans fought, suffered,
and died in the Pacific theatre too, most notably in the Philippines.
We're going back in time a bit now, but in December 1941, Puerto Rican Virgilio Norberto
Cordero Jr. was in the Battalion Commander of the 31st Infantry Regiment, a US Army unit covering
the withdrawal of Allied troops to the Bataan Peninsula in the Phillippines. The unit fought
against an insurmountable Japanese offensive for four months, and sometime during the fighting,
Cordero was made Commander of the new Filipino Army's 52nd Infantry Regiment. Though,
despite Cordero and his men's bravery, many members of the 31st and the 52nd were ultimately
captured by the Japanese and subjected to the infamous Bataan Death March and almost
four years of captivity. Cordero survived this, however, writing a book about his time as a POW.
Serving in the US Army Air Force, Puerto Ricans had the "pleasure"
of fighting in other theatres and fronts too.
José Antonio Muñiz, for instance, flew in the China-Burma-India Theatre, engaging in twenty
combat missions against the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. And other Puerto Rican pilots,
such as Alberto A. Nido, served in not only the US Army Air Forces but
the Royal Canadian Air Force and British Royal Air Force as well.
The same goes the Peurto Ricans in the US Navy.
Throughout World War II, Marion Frederic Ramírez de Arellano became the first-ever
Hispanic submarine commander in the US Navy. In December 1941, Ramírez de Arellano was but
a Division Officer on the USS Pickerel, which sunk the Japanese vessel Kanko Maru near the
Philipines. Still in the Pickerel, Ramírez de Arellano was awarded a Silver Star and a
Legion of Merit for contributing to the sinking of two Japanese freighters and
the damaging of another. Aboard the USS Skate next, Ramírez de Arellano earned
his second Silver Star by contributing in the sinking of a Japanese light cruiser,
and in April 1944, he was made the Commanding Officer of the USS Balao, in which he sunk a
Japanese cargo ship and earned a Bronze Star with Combat V and a Letter of Commendation.
It wasn't just a bunch of Hispanic dudes that Puerto Rico contributed to the Allied cause,
however; Puerto Rican woman volunteered to be nurses and fill auxiliary roles close to the
action. The US Army Nurse Corps assigned eight Puerto Rican nurses to the US Army
post at San Juan and a further five to the hospital at Camp Tortuguero, also on Puerto
Rico. Throughout the war, Carmen Lozano Dumler became the first female Peurto Rican officer in
the US Army. After serving as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Rodriguez General Hospital in San Juan,
she worked at Camp Tortuguero, and she was then sent to Trinidad and Tobago, another Caribbean
island, where she tended to soldiers returning from Normandy. As for auxiliary roles, there
was a Peurto Rican company in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, or WAAC, though a second Carmen,
Carmen Contreras-Bozak, was the first Puerto Rican and Hispanic woman to join WAAC; this was
under the 149th WAAC Post Headquarters Company, which served overseas, notably in North Africa.
Back in Puerto Rico, the US Army Air Force established a vital at Punta Borinquen,
deemed "Borinquen Army Air Field," to which many Army Air Force units — including various
composite wings, bombardment units, tactical reconnaissance squadrons,
and Antilles Air Command — were assigned. The island territory also became the site
of the US Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, which was supposed to be the "Pearl Harbour
of the Atlantic," though it was sort of abandoned after Germany surrendered to the
Allies and the US gave all their attention on the Pacific theatre and the Japanese.
Hopefully we've convinced you that Puerto Rico played a much larger role in World War II than
many might realise. At the end of the day, Puerto Ricans fought and died for the United States and
the Allies, sticking it to the Germans in Europe and giving the Japanese a rough time
in the Pacific, and Puerto Rican sacrifice is not something that should ever be swept under the rug.
But what are your thoughts? Do you think Puerto Rico's contributions to the Allied cause are
underrated? Do you have any stories about Puerto Ricans in World War II you would like to share?
What about the Puerto Ricans in the audience — do you have any family stories you would be
comfortable sharing? We would love it if you would share these and other thoughts down in
the comments. And as for the reasons why many Puerto Ricans volunteered to fight and the racial
discrimination many Hispanics faced during their service, those are the topics of another video.