This is a brief account of some the Puerto Rican women who have participated in military actions as members of either a political revolutionary movement or of the Armed Forces of the United States.
Background When Puerto Rico was a Spanish Colony, Puerto Rican women were commonly known for their roles as mothers and housekeepers. Women's rights were unheard of and their contributions to the islands' society were limited.
However, during the 19th century women in Puerto Rico began to express themselves through their literary work. Among these women was María Bibiana Benítez, Puerto Rico's first woman poet and playwright. In 1832, she published her first poem La Ninfa de Puerto Rico (The Nymph of Puerto Rico)La Ninfa de Puerto Rico a la Justicia and her niece, Alejandrina Benitez de Gautier, whose own Aguinaldo Puertorriqueño (Ode to Puerto Rico) would be published in 1843, recognized her as one of the island's great poets.Bios
During the 20th century, some of the women in the island became active as union organizers, such as Luisa CapetilloLuisa Capetillo and involved in politics, as was the case of Felisa Rincón de Gautier.El Nuevo Dia
Even though women in the past had actively participated in the revolt against Spain, it wouldn't be until the United States entered World War II that the military would open its doors to Puerto Rican women.
La Rogativa
According to a Puerto Rican legend, British troops were laying siege to San Juan, Puerto Rico on the night of April 30, 1797. The townswomen, led by a bishop, formed a rogativa (prayer procession) and marched throughout the streets of the city - singing hymns, carrying torches, and praying for the deliverance of the city.
Outside the walls, particularly from the sea, the British navy mistook this torch-lit religious parade for the arrival of Spanish reinforcements. When morning arrived, the British were gone from the island, and the city was saved from a possible invasion.
Four statues sculpted by Lindsay Daen, in the Plazuela de la Rogativa (Rogativa Plaza) in Old San Juan, pay tribute to the bishop and townswomen who participated in La Rogativa.
Revolt against Spain
The first Puerto Rican woman to become an Independentista, who struggled for Puerto Rico's independence from Spanish colonialism, was María de las Mercedes Barbudo. Joining forces with the Venezuelan government, under the leadership of Simon Bolivar, Barbudo organized an insurrection against the Spaniards in Puerto Rico.Mercedes - La primera Independentista Puertorriquena However, her plans were discovered by the Spanish authorities—she was arrested and exiled from Puerto Rico, never to return.
Puerto Rico witnessed other slave revolts and calls for independence from Spain, but none compared to what became known as El Grito de Lares. This was organized by a group of prominent Puerto Ricans led by Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances and Segundo Ruiz Belvis. Hundreds of men and women—and even slaves—participated in the uprising.Moscoso, Francisco, La Revolución Puertorriqueña de 1868: El Grito de Lares, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 2003 Of all the women who participated in the revolt, two became part of Puerto Rican legend and lore:
Lola Rodríguez de Tio believed in equal rights for women, the abolition of slavery, and she actively participated in the Puerto Rican Independence Movement. Inspired by Ramón Emeterio Betances's quest for Puerto Rican independence and by the Grito de Lares, she wrote the lyrics to the national anthem of Puerto Rico, La Borinqueña.Toledo, Josefina, "Lola Rodríguez de Tió - Contribución para un estudio integral", Librería Editorial Ateneo, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2002
Mariana Bracetti, also known as Brazo de Oro (Golden Arm), was the sister-in-law of revolution leader Manuel Rojas. Bracetti knitted the first Puerto Rican flag: the Lares Revolutionary Flag, taking into consideration suggestions made by Betances. Upon the failure of the revolution, Bracetti was imprisoned in Arecibo along with the other survivors, and later released.
World War I Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States in accordance with the agreement reached in the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Spanish–American War. On March 2, 1917, with the advent of World War I, U.S. citizenship was imposed on Puerto Ricans as a result of the passage if the Jones–Shafroth Act (the Puerto Rican House of Delegates rejected US citizenship).Puerto Rico: Culture, Politics, and Identity; By Nancy Morris Two months later, when Congress passed the Selective Service Act, conscription was extended to the island. Those who were eligible, with the exception of women, were expected to serve in the military. About 20,000 Puerto Rican men were drafted during World War I.Politico: Puerto Ricans in World War IWomen's Military Memorial
By 1918, the U.S. Army Medical Corps realized there was a shortage of medical anesthesiologists, a low-salary specialty required in military operating rooms. Therefore, the Army reluctantly began hiring women physicians as civilian contract employees. One of the first civilian doctors contracted by the Army was a Puerto Rican woman, who despite the fact that she was not an active member of the military, contributed with her professional skills to the war effort.
Dr. Dolores Piñero, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was the first Puerto Rican woman doctor to serve in the Army under contract. In 1913, Dr. Piñero had earned her medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Boston, Massachusetts. She set up her medical and anesthesia practice in what was then the town of Río Piedras (it is now a section of San Juan). Upon the outbreak of World War I, she applied for a contract surgeon position, only to be turned down. After writing a letter to the Army Surgeon General in Washington, D.C. explaining her intentions, she received a telegram ordering her to report to Camp Las Casas at Santurce, Puerto Rico. In October 1918, she signed her contract with the Army.
Piñero was reassigned to the Army General Hospital of Fort Brooke, located in the former Ballajá Barracks (in the grounds of the Fort San Felipe del Morro) in Old San Juan. There she worked as an anesthesiologist during the mornings, and in the laboratory during the afternoons. Piñero and four male colleagues received orders to open a 400-bed hospital in Ponce, Puerto Rico, to care for the patients who had been infected with influenza, known also as "the Spanish flu". Among the nurses who served in Ponce with Piñero was Rosa A. González, a registered nurse who authored The Nurses Medical Dictionary.Salud Promujer 1 The Spanish flu had swept through Army camps and training posts around the world, infecting one quarter of all soldiers and killing more than 55,000 American troops.Carol R. Byerly, Fever of War, (New York University Press, 2005), 6–10. After the flu epidemic ended, Piñero was ordered back to the Army base hospital at San Juan.
World War II
When the United States entered World War II, the military was in need of nurses. Puerto Rican nurses wanted to volunteer for service, however they were not accepted into the Army or Navy Nurse Corps. As a result, many of the island's women work force migrated to the mainland U.S. to work in the factories which produced military equipment.
In 1944, the Army sent recruiters to the island to recruit no more than 200 women for the Women's Army Corps (WAC). Over 1,000 applications were received for the unit which was to be composed of only 200 women. The Puerto Rican WAC unit, Company 6, 2nd Battalion, 21st Regiment of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, a segregated Hispanic unit, was assigned to the New York Port of Embarkation, after their basic training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. They were assigned to work in military offices which planned the shipment of troops around the world.Puerto Rican Woman in Defense of our country
Among them was PFC Carmen García Rosado, who in 2006, authored and published a book titled Las WACS: Participacion de la Mujer Boricua en la Segunda Guerra Mundial (The WACs: Participation of Puerto Rican Women in the Second World War), the first book to document the experiences of the first 200 Puerto Rican women who participated in said conflict."LAS WACS"-Participacion de la Mujer Boricua en la Seginda Guerra Mundial; by: Carmen Garcia Rosado; page 60; 1ra. Edicion publicada en Octubre de 2006; 2da Edicion revisada 2007; Regitro tro Propiedad Intectual ELA (Government of Puerto Rico) #06-13P-)1A-399; Library of Congress TXY 1-312-685.
According to García Rosado, one of the principal hardships endured by Puerto Rican military women was racial discrimination, which was rampant throughout the U.S. at the time.
That same year the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) decided to accept Puerto Rican nurses. Thirteen women submitted applications, were interviewed, underwent physical examinations, and were accepted into the ANC. Eight of these nurses were assigned to the Army Post at San Juan, where they were valued for their bilingual abilities. Five nurses were assigned to work at the hospital at Camp Tortuguero, Puerto Rico.
The Navy also recruited a small number of Puerto Rican women as members of the Navy Women's Reserve known as WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during World War II. Among the women who served in the military and distinguished themselves were:
Tech4 Carmen Contreras-Bozak (1919 – 2017) who was born in Cayey, Puerto Rico, was the first Hispanic to serve in the U.S. Women's Army Corps as an interpreter, and in numerous administrative positions. She arrived in Northern Africa on January 27, 1943, and rendered overseas duties in Algiers within General Dwight D. Eisenhower's theatre headquarters. Her responsibilities included the transmission of encoded messages to the battlefield.Young woman's life defined by service in Women's Army Corps , Retrieved 2006-07-22
Second Lieutenant Carmen Lozano Dumler (1921 - 2015) who was born in San Juan, was one of the first Puerto Rican women to become a United States Army officer. In 1945, Lozano Dumler was assigned to the 359th Station Hospital of Ft. Read, Trinidad and Tobago, British West Indies, where she attended wounded soldiers who had returned from Normandy, France.
Second Lieutenant Carmen Vazquez Rivera who was born February 15, 1921, in Cidra, Puerto Rico. Served in the United States Army as Head Nurse of the Orthopedic Department at Fort Brooke in San Juan with the rank of Second Lieutenant. Later served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War with the rank of First Lieutenant. Also became wife and widow of prominent Puerto Rican politician Dr. Leopoldo Figueroa. Received WWII Victory Medal, the American Theater Campaign Medal, and the Overseas Service Bars for her service in WWII and later received renewed recognition as a centenarian.
Lieutenant Junior Grade Maria Rodriguez Denton (United States Navy), born June 14, 1909, in the town of Guanica, Puerto Rico, was the first woman from Puerto Rico who became an officer in the United States Navy as member of the WAVES. The Navy assigned Denton as a library assistant at the Cable and Censorship Office in New York City. It was Lt. Denton who forwarded the news (through channels) to President Harry S. Truman that the war had ended.
Sylvia Rexach. one of Puerto Rico's greatest composers of boleros, dropped-out of the University of Puerto Rico in 1942 and joined the U.S. Women's Army Corps where she served as an office clerk. She served in the military until 1945, when she was honorably discharged.