More than 100,000 Mexican and Mexican American soldiers participated in the Korean War (1950–53) under the flag of the United Nations and the command of the United States Armed Forces. Their presence took place due to various factors, including the enrollment of young Mexicans and Americans of Mexican descent who were living in the United States between the late 1940s and 1953. Other Mexicans crossed the border into the United States to join the military as volunteers. An agreement between Mexico and the United States on military service, dating from 1943, allowed Mexicans who entered the United States Armed Forces not to lose their Mexican nationality. Soldiers of Mexican origin fought on numerous fronts in Korea, and many received US medals recognizing their bravery. After the World War II, Mexico followed a policy of non-alignment and neutrality regarding the rivalry between the two superpowers of that time, the United States and the Soviet Union. Therefore, the Mexican government did not participate in the Korean War by providing military support; however, it sent humanitarian aid to South Korea, donating food and medicine.
Background The United States' demographic composition of the 1950s and the migration of Mexicans to that country explains the large number of soldiers of Mexican descent in the United States Armed Forces.
Mexicans in the United States and Mexican migration Before 1848, the southwestern territory of the United States was part of Mexico. After the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), Mexico lost that portion of land, but many Mexicans remained.Alegría, Tito (1989). La ciudad y los procesos trasfronterizos entre México y Estados Unidos. Frontera Norte. Revista internacional de fronteras, territorios y regiones 1 (2): 53–90. doi:10.17428/rfn.v1i2.1654. Retrieved on: April 9, 2021. More than 80% of them lived in the states of California and Texas.Nostrand, Richard L. (1975). Mexican Americans Circa 1850. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 65 (3): 378-390. . Retrieved on: April 9, 2021.
During and after the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), the emigration from Mexico to the United States increased. It is estimated that from 1910 to 1930 around a million Mexicans emigrated to the United States.Plasencia de la Parra, Enrique (2003). Las infanterías invisibles: mexicanos en la segunda guerra mundial. Historia Mexicana LII (4): 1021–1071. Retrieved on: April 9, 2021. Before the establishment of the United States Border Patrol and the system of entry quotas imposed by the US government (1924),Senado de la República, Centro de Estudios Internacionales Gilberto Bosques (noviembre 2015). México en la encrucijada: implicaciones internas e internacionales de la migración . Documentos de análisis. Retrieved on: April 9, 2021. no immigration paper or permit was required to enter the United States. Many of the migrants who crossed over with their families had American-born sons who were called to arms during World War II and the Korean War.
When there was a shortage of workers during World War II, the United States negotiated a series of agreements with Mexico focusing on the recruitment of Mexican labor to perform mainly agricultural jobs in its territory. These agreements were called the Bracero Program, which permitted the legal crossing of approximately 4.5 million male workers from 1942 to 1964. After their working contracts expired, many of them decided to join the United States Army as volunteers.
Bilateral Treaty regarding the military service The participation of Mexicans in the Korean War was facilitated by the Agreement between Mexico and the United States Regarding Military Service by Nationals of Either Country Residing in the Other. Such agreement was placed in force through an exchange of diplomatic notes signed by Ezequiel Padilla, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, and Herbert S. Bursley, Chargé d'Affaires a. i. of the United States in Mexico. The agreement was effective from January 22, 1943 to October 28, 1952; it was not renewed after that date. The agreement was negotiated after Mexico declared war against Germany and the Axis countries and it allowed Mexicans recruited into the United States Army not to lose their Mexican citizenship. According to the Article 37 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, being recruited by another country is a cause of loss of nationality. Thus, the agreement stipulated that " the nationals of either country resident within the territory of the other may be registered and inducted into the armed forces of the country of their residence on the same conditions as the nationals thereof unless otherwise provided herein." and without losing their nationality.The Department of State (1943). Treaty Information Agreement with Mexico Regarding Military Service by Nationals of Either Country Residing in the Other. The Department of State Bulletin. January 2-June 26, 1943 8. Washington: Office of Public Communication, Bureau of Public Affairs. p. 89. Retrieved on: April 12, 2021.
The Mexican Government and the Korean War Even though Mexico joined the allied forces in World War II since May 1942, during the Cold War following WWII, the Mexican government decided to follow the principle of non-intervention, abstaining from aligning itself with any power and being neutral. Therefore, Mexico did not participate with military forces in the Korean war and has not participated in any other war since the end of World War II. However, the Mexican government provided humanitarian aid to South Korea in 1951 by donating food and medical supplies with a value of $350,000 of the time.Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, ed. (1951). Memoria de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (in Spanish). Septiembre 1950 -agosto 1951. Ciudad de México: SRE. p. 153.
Another form of Mexican cooperation was the participation of doctors in the UN campaigns to eradicate infectious diseases such as smallpox, typhus, and typhoid in the Korean peninsula. Doctors Guillermo López Nava and Gustavo A. Rovirosa were recognized for their work."Mexicans Aid UN Medics",Pacific Stars and Stripes, Feb. 16. 1953, p.2.
On the other hand, the Mexican government proposed a diplomatic initiative at the United Nations to resolve the dispute over the exchange or destination of the thousands of prisoners of war, known as "The Mexican agreement onwar" or the "Alemán's Initiative" because it was promoted at the United Nations on behalf of the Mexican president Miguel Alemán Valdés. This pressing dispute prevented the parties in conflict from signing the armistice and prolonged the war for more than a year. While the People's Republic of China and North Korea demanded the return of their prisoners, South Korea and the United Nations Coalition had a voluntary case by case repatriation approach based on humanitarian reasons.Pellicer, Olga, ed. (2009) . El mantenimiento de la paz mediante negociaciones entre las grandes potencias (1949). Voz de México en la Asamblea General de la ONU (in Spanish). I. México: SRE. p. 56. The Mexican representative to the United Nations and future Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Luis Padilla Nervo, served as president of the Sixth General Assembly (September 1951 - June 1952) and presented the Mexican proposal. It was based on offering the non-repatriated North Korean and Chinese prisoners' temporary asylum and working permit in United Nations member states who were willing to receive them. Despite having the support of France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and the United States, this proposal was not successful as it was rejected by the People's Republic of China and North Korea.
Number of Soldiers of Mexican origin Estimated number of soldiers There is no official source, neither in Mexico nor in the United States, that specifies the number of Mexican and Mexican-descent soldiers who participated in the Korean War. Only individual records of each soldier in the archives of the United States Department of Defense indicate their place of birth. However, those who have researched on the deceased Latinos in Korea found some inconsistencies in their birthplace records. For example, seven of these, such as Sergeant Vincent Mauro Wade and Leopoldo V. Castillo, were wrongly recorded as coming from the Virgin Islands; when other sources, such as the Genaro Estrada Historical Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Mexico and the Korean War Project, list Mexico as their country of origin.Korean War Project (1995-2020). Mexico - Korean War Casualty Search. www.koreanwar.org. Retrieved on: April 12, 2021. At that time, Mexico had no relationship or direct communication with the Virgin Islands.
During that time, there was a racial classification on the recruitment file; most Mexicans or their descendants were registered as "Caucasian" or "white", in the absence of a specific classification for them. Other Mexicans modified their names, making it difficult to identify their origin. For example, Raúl Álvarez del Castillo, originally from Guadalajara, Jalisco, and buried in the cemetery of that city, was registered as "Ralph A. Castle".Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (1951). Expediente III/580.2(73)/19221-A-20 CASTLE, Ralph A (Acervo Histórico) (in Spanish). Many José became "Joe", and Juan "John", "Johnny" or "J".
The United States Department of Veterans began to use the classification of "Hispanics" (Hispanic) or "Latinos" after the Korean War. This category includes all soldiers whose ancestors spoke Spanish ("Hispanic") or are of Latin American origin ("Latino"). The first time the US Federal Government used the word "Hispanic" in a census was in 1980.Simón, Yara (Sept. 14 2020). Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicano: The History Behind the Terms. History. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved on: April 12, 2021. "Latinos" and "Hispanics" are used interchangeably in this text, depending on the sources consulted.
The Mexican government did not have the capacity to carry out a registry of its nationals who enlisted in the United States Army. It was only aware of the deceased soldiers who returned to the country, and there is no known source nor file that collected that information.
The non-profit organization Latino Advocates for Education, in Orange, California, after years of research estimated by extrapolations of lists of soldiers that more than one hundred eighty thousand Latino soldiers participated in the Korean War. In a letter dated on November 10, 2007, addressed to Korean veterans, the US Congresswoman for California, Loretta Sánchez, stated that ""over 180,000 Hispanics Americans served in this war".Aguirre, Frederick P.; Martinez Aguire, Linda; Rodriguez, Rogelio C. (2007). "Freedom is not Free" Mexican Americans in the Korean War". Latino Advocates for Education. p. 15.
It is estimated that of the 180,000 soldiers mentioned, at least 100,000 were of Mexican origin, given that they were the most important group of Hispanics in the United States. According to figures from the Department of Defense about 61,000 were from Puerto Ricans. The rest came from other countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Spain, which at that time had a very small demographic presence in the United States.Department of Army's Center of Military History. Historic Review on the 65 Infantry Regiment. Broadly speaking, two-thirds of the Hispanic soldiers in the Korean War were from Mexican origin and a third of them were originally from Puerto Rico.
According to data from the 1990 Census, compiled by the Department of Veterans, in that year 4.9 million veterans of the Korean War were still alive, from the original of 6.8 million soldiers. Of these, "there were an estimated 133,500 Hispanics", which corresponded to 3% of the surviving veterans.U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (June 2000). Veterans of the Korean War. Assistant Secretary for Planning and Analysis Office of Program and Data Analyses.