Puerto Ricans and people of Puerto Rican descent have participated as members of the United States Armed Forces in every conflict in which the United States has been involved since World War I.
One of the consequences of the Spanish–American War was that Puerto Rico was annexed by the United States in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898, ratified on December 10, 1898. On January 15, 1899, the military government changed the name of Puerto Rico to Porto Rico. (On May 17, 1932, the US Congress changed the name back to "Puerto Rico".)William Dinwiddie, Puerto Rico, its Conditions and Possibilities (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1899) p. 261 On March 21, 1915, the first shots by the United States in World War I were fired by the Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry from Castillo San Felipe del Morro at a German merchant ship in San Juan Bay. US Citizenship was extended to the political body known as Porto Rican citizens via the Jones–Shafroth Act of 1917, (the Puerto Rican House of Delegates had rejected an earlier bill in 1914 because it did not include universal male suffrage). Even though Puerto Ricans were "American" nationals since 1900 (due the Foraker Act) which made them eligible for the Selective Service Draft lottery, they were excluded from the initial draft law. The Puerto Rican legislature and local leaders demanded that Puerto Ricans were included in the draft and allowed to fight in the war. Puerto Ricans who resided on the island had been serving as volunteers in the "Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry," dating back to 1899. As was the case nationwide and under Spanish control, the Puerto Rican units created during WWI (the 94th Infantry Division) were racially segregated. Puerto Ricans of African descent where assigned to the 375th Regiment which was part of the 94th Infantry Division which was the Puerto Rican contribution to what came to be known as the National Army.
Those who resided in the mainland served in regular units of one of the following branches of the United States military, the United States Marine Corps, Army or the Navy. As such, they were assigned to regular military units; however, Puerto Ricans of African descent were assigned to segregated all-black units and were subject to the discrimination which was rampant in the US in those days.A Chronology of African American military service from WWI through WWII
It is estimated that 236,000 Puerto Ricans in the island registered for the World War I draft and that 18,000 served in the war.Puerto Rico National Guard It is, however, impossible to determine the exact number of Puerto Ricans residing on the United States mainland who served and perished in the war because the War Department did not keep statistics in regard to the ethnicity of its members.
Puerto Rican military service Puerto Ricans have had a long history of defending their island, having fought off against attacks from Caribs and pirates, against invasions of other European powers at war with Spain which sought to capture Puerto Rico,Historias de Puerto Rico by Paul G. Miller, (1947) pgs. 221–237 enlisting alongside General Bernardo de Gálvez during the American Revolutionary War in the battles of Baton Rouge, Mobile, Pensacola and St. Louis,Bernardo De Galvez: Hero of the American Revolution by Lorenzo G. Lafarelle, p. 57 Pub. Eakin Press and Marion Koogler McNay (1992), and fighting in Europe during the Napoleonic Wars against the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Siege of Saragossa.
In the 19th Century, Puerto Ricans fought against the Spanish Empire. They fought for Mexico's independence and in the Latin American revolutions alongside Simón Bolívar.General Antonio Valero de Bernabe y su aventura de libertad: De Puerto Rico a San Sebastian by Lucas G. Castillo Lara (1991) Pub. Academia Nacional de Historia, Puerto Ricans who resided in the United States, such as LT Augusto Rodriguez, fought in the American Civil War. In Puerto Rico they revolted against Spanish rule and fought for Puerto Rico's independence in "El Grito de Lares" and in the "Intentona de Yauco." They also fought for Cuba's independence in the Ten Years' War alongside General Máximo Gómez and as members of the Cuban Liberation Army alongside Jose Marti. At the end of the 19th century, Puerto Ricans fought alongside their Spanish counterparts in the Spanish–American War against the United States in the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba and in Puerto Rico when the American military forces invaded the island in what is known as the Puerto Rican Campaign and against the Philippine Republic during the Philippine–American War.
The Porto Rico Regiment
Puerto Rico became a US Territory in accordance with the 1898 Treaty of Paris which ended the Spanish–American War. The United States appointed a military governor and soon the United States Army established itself in San Juan. The Army Appropriation Bill created by an Act of Congress on March 2, 1899 authorized the creation of the first body of native troops in Puerto Rico. On June 30, 1901, the "Porto Rico Provisional Regiment of Infantry" was organized. On July 1, 1901, the United States Senate passed a Bill which would require a strict mental and physical examination for those who wanted to join the Regiment. It also approved the recruitment of native Puerto Rican civilians to be appointed to the grade of Second Lieutenants for a term of four years if they passed the required tests.Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry An Act of Congress, approved on May 27, 1908, reorganized the regiment as part of the "regular" Army. Since the native Puerto Rican officers were Puerto Rican citizens and not citizens of the United States, they were required to undergo a new physical examination to determine their fitness for commissions in the Regular Army and to take an oath of US citizenship with their new officer's oath.Historia Militar de Puerto Rico; by Héctor Andrés Negroni; pg. 370;
Camp Las Casas
There were many military installations in Puerto Rico, however Camp Las Casas played an instrumental role in preparing the native Puerto Ricans for the military. On January 30, 1908, the "Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry" was stationed at Camp Las Casas in Santurce, a section of San Juan, in what is now El Residencial Las Casas, a public housing complex. Camp Las Casas served as the main training camp for the Puerto Rican soldiers prior to World War I; the majority of the men trained in this facility were assigned to the "Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry." Puerto Ricans were unaccustomed to the racial segregation policies of the United States which were also implemented in Puerto Rico and often refused to designate themselves as "white" or "black". Such was the case of Antonio Guzmán who at first was assigned to a white regiment only to be reassigned to a black regiment at Camp Las Casas. He requested a hearing and argued his case to no avail.Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico; by Laura Briggs; Page 62; Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (December 2, 2002); ; Captain Luis R. Esteves, who on June 19, 1915, became the first Puerto Rican to graduate from the United States Military Academy (West Point), organized the 23rd Battalion which was composed of Puerto Ricans. Esteves served as instructor at the Officers' Training Camps that were established soon afterwards. He was instructor or commander of three of these camps, which produced all the officers who would lead the more than 20,000 men trained in Puerto Rico during World War I.
Marine aviation was fairly new, it came into existence on May 22, 1912, and the first major expansion of the Marine Corps' air component, of which Puerto Rico played a major role, came with America's entrance into World War I. On January 6, 1914, First Lieutenant Bernard L. Smith established the Marine Section of the Navy Flying School in the island municipality of Culebra. As the number of Marine Aviators grew so did the avid desire to separate from Naval Aviation.Corum (2003), p.23. By doing so, the Marine Aviation was designated as separate from the United States Naval Aviation. The creation of a Marine Corps Aviation Company in Puerto Rico consisted of 10 officers and 40 enlisted men.Sherrod (1952), p.4–5.
In addition, several local militia units called "Home Guard" units were organized in various cities and towns to defend and maintain domestic order in the island. Virgil R. Miller, a native of San Germán, Puerto Rico, who in World War II served as the Regimental Commander of the highly decorated 442d Regimental Combat Team, served in the San Juan unit of the Puerto Rico Home Guard; 2nd Lt. Pedro Albizu Campos organized the Ponce unit of the Home Guard.
"The Odenwald incident", 1915 – USA's first shot fired in World War I
Lt. Teófilo Marxuach's unit of the Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry was stationed at Castillo El Morro Castle, (then part of an Army base called Fort Brooke), overlooking San Juan Bay. The United States remained neutral when World War I broke out in August 1914. However, the Government of the United States in Washington, D.C. insisted on its neutral right to send ships to Europe and that therefore, the German U-boats must refrain from attacking them. US ships carried food and raw materials to the United Kingdom. On March 21, 1915, Lt. Marxuach was the officer of the day at El Morro. Odenwald, and unarmed Hamburg America Line cargo liner, tried to leave San Juan bay without permission from the Collector of Customs. Lt. Marxuach gave the order to open fire on her from the fort. Sergeant Encarnacion Correa then manned a machine gun and fired warning shots, with little effect. Marxuach fired a shot from a gun in the Santa Rosa battery of El Morro, in what is considered to be the first shot of World War I fired by the regular armed forces of the United States against any ship flying the colors of the Central Powers,"US Naval Institute Proceedings"; A Breach of Neutrality; by: Lt. Isaiah Olch, US Navy; Vol. 62; July–December 1936 forcing Odenwald to stop and to return to port. The shots ordered by Lt. Marxuach were the first fired by the United States in World War I.
Marxuach's actions became an international incident when the German Government accused the United States Government of the holding Odenwald illegally against her will, and not firing a blank warning shot as required by international law. The United States Government responded that the official report of the United States War Department made by the commandant of El Morro, Lt. Col. Burnham, claimed that only warning shots were made and that none was aimed at Odenwald. Odenwald was renamed Newport News by the US Government and commissioned into the United States Navy, where it served until 1925, when it was retired.Newport News In 1917 Germany resumed submarine attacks, knowing that it would lead to the US entering the war.
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