List of Puerto Rican Military Personnel - 20th Century

20th Century

• Humberto Acosta-Rosario, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army
  Acosta-Rosario was a member of Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry (Mechanized); 25th Infantry Division, United States Army. He is currently the only Puerto Rican MIA whose body has never been recovered.
• Ricardo Aponte, Brigadier General, U.S. Air Force
  Aponte is the former Director of the Innovation and Experimentation Directorate, United States Southern Command. He is the first Puerto Rican to hold said position.
• Félix Arenas Gaspar, Captain, Spanish Army
  Arenas Gapar was posthumously awarded the Cruz Laureada de San Fernando (Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand - Spain's version of the Medal of Honor) for his actions in the Rif War.
• Domingo Arroyo, Jr., Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps
  Arroyo, who was Puerto Rican, was the first American serviceman to be killed in Operation Restore Hope during the Somalian Civil War.
• Joseph (José) B. Aviles, Sr., Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Coast Guard
  On September 28, 1925, Aviles became the first Hispanic Chief Petty Officer in the United States Coast Guard. During World War II he received a war-time promotion to Chief Warrant Officer, becoming the first Hispanic to reach that level as well.
• Rafael Celestino Benítez, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy
  Benítez was a highly decorated submarine commander who led the rescue effort of the crew members of the USS Cochino which was involved in the first American undersea spy mission of the Cold War.
• Carlos Betances Ramírez, Colonel, U.S. Army
  Betances Ramírez was the first Puerto Rican to command a battalion in the Korean War. In 1952, he assumed command of the 2nd Battalion, 65th Infantry Regiment.
• José M. Cabanillas, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy
  In World War II Cabanillas was Executive Officer of the USS Texas (BB-35) and participated in the invasions of Africa and Normandy (D-Day).
• Richard Carmona M.D., Vice Admiral, Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
  Carmona served as the 17th Surgeon General of the United States under President George W. Bush.
• Modesto Cartagena, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army
  Cartagena, the most decorated Hispanic soldier in history, distinguished himself in combat during the Korean War as a member of Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry, and is being considered for the Medal of Honor.
• Carlos Fernando Chardón, Major General, Puerto Rico National Guard
  Chardón was the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico from 1969 to 1973 and the Puerto Rico Adjutant General from 1973 to 1975.
• Carmen Contreras-Bozak, Tech4, U.S. Women's Army Corps
  Contreras-Bozak was the first Hispanic to serve in the U.S. Women's Army Corps. She served as an interpreter and in numerous administrative positions during World War II.
• Virgilio N. Cordero, Jr., Brigadier General, U.S. Army - Cordero was a Battalion Commander of the 31st Infatry Regiment who documented his experiences as a prisoner of war and his participation in the infamous Bataan Death March of World War II.
• Juan César Cordero Dávila, Major General, U.S. Army
  Cordero Dávila was the commanding officer of the 65th Infantry Regiment during the Korean War, thus one of the highest ranking ethnic officers in the Army.
• Encarnacion Correa, Sergeant, U.S. Army
  Correa fired the first warning shots in World War I on behalf of the United States, against a ship flying the colors of the Central Powers. This occurred on March 21, 1915 when Correa manned a machine gun and, under the orders of then-Lieutenant Teófilo Marxuach, opened fire on the "Odenwald," an armed German supply ship trying to force its way out of San Juan Bay.
• Ruben A. Cubero, Brigadier General U.S. Air Force
  Cubero is a highly decorated member of the United States Air Force of Puerto Rican descent who, in 1991, became the first Hispanic graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, to be named Dean of the Faculty of said academy.
• Pedro del Valle, Lieutenant General, U.S. Marine Corps
  Del Valle was the first Hispanic three-star Marine general. His military career included service in World War I, in Haiti and Nicaragua during the so-called Banana Wars of the 1920s, and in the seizure of Guadalcanal. He later served as Commanding General of the U.S. 1st Marine Division. During World War ll, Del Valle played an instrumental role in the defeat of the Japanese forces in Okinawa.
• Carmelo Delgado Delgado, Lieutenant, Abraham Lincoln International Brigade
  Delgado was the first Puerto Rican, and one of the first U. S. citizens, to fight and die in the Spanish Civil War against General Francisco Franco and the Spanish Nationalists.
• Alberto Díaz, Jr. Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy
  Díaz is the first Hispanic to become the Director of the San Diego Naval Medical District.
• Luis R. Esteves, Major General, U.S. Army
  In 1915, Esteves was the first Puerto Rican to graduate from the United States Military Academy. Esteves also organized the Puerto Rican National Guard.
• Salvador E. Felices, Major General, U.S. Air Force
  Felices was the first Puerto Rican general in the U.S. Air Force. During the Korean War in 1953, Felices flew in 19 combat missions over North Korea. In 1957, he participated in a historic project that was given to the Fifteenth Air Force by the Strategic Air Command headquarters. It was known as "Operation Power Flite," the first around the world non-stop flight by all-jet aircraft.
• Charles Roy Fonseca, Corporal, Special Air Service, British Army
  Fonseca fought in the Falklands/Malvinas War in 1982, and was the only Puerto Rican POW in that conflict.
• Rose Franco, Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Marine Corps
  Franco was the first Hispanic woman Chief Warrant Officer in the Marine Corps. In 1965, Franco was named Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, Paul Henry Nitze by the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson.
• Edmund Ernest García, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy
  During World War II García was commander of the Destroyer USS Sloat (DE-245) and saw action in the invasions of Africa, Sicily, and France.
• Fernando Luis García, Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps
  García was the first Puerto Rican awarded the Medal of Honor. He was posthumously awarded the medal for his actions against enemy aggressor forces in the Korea War on September 5, 1952.
• Linda Garcia Cubero, Captain, U.S. Air Force
  In 1980, Garcia Cubero, who is of Mexican-American and Puerto Rican descent became the first Hispanic woman graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and the first to graduate from an American Military Academy.
• Carmen García Rosado, Private First Class, U.S. Women's Army Corps
  García Rosado was among the first 200 Puerto Rican women to be recruited into the WAC's during World War II and the author of "LAS WACS-Participacion de la Mujer Boricua en la Segunda Guerra Mundial" (The WACs-The participation of the Puerto Rican women in the Second World War), which is the first book which documents the experiences of the first 200 Puerto Rican women to participate in said conflict as members of the armed forces of the United States.
• Mihiel "Mike" Gilormini, Brigadier General, U.S. Air Force
  World War II hero, recipient of 5 Distinguished Flying Cross's. Gilormini, together with then Colonel Alberto A. Nido and Lieutenant Colonel Jose Antonio Muñiz founded the Puerto Rico Air National Guard. Gilormini had previously flown for the Royal Canadian Air Force(1941) and the Royal Air Force (1941–1942).
• Manuel Goded Llopis, General, Spanish Army
  Goded Llopis was a Puerto Rican in the Spanish Army who was one of the first generales to join General Francisco Franco, in the revolt against the Spanish Republican government (also known as Spanish loyalists) in what is known as the Spanish Civil War. Previously, Goded Llopis had distinguished himself in the Battle of Alhucemas of the Rif War.
• César Luis González, First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Force
  Gonzalez was the first Puerto Rican pilot in the United States Army Air Forces and the first Puerto Rican pilot to die in World War II.
• Diego E. Hernández, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy
  Hernández was the first Hispanic to be named Vice Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command. He flew two combat tours in Vietnam during the Vietnam War and in 1980, took command of the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVA/CV-67). The Kennedy is one of two non-nuclear aircraft carriers still on active duty with the United States Navy.
• Zak Hernández, Sergeant, U.S. Army
  Hernández was killed in Panama on the eve of President George H. W. Bush's visit. His accused murderer, Pedro Miguel González Pinzón, was acquitted and later elected President of Panamá's National Congress, an event which has generated protests from the governments of the United States and Puerto Rico.
• Haydee Javier Kimmich, Captain, U.S. Navy
  Kimmich was the highest ranking Hispanic female in the Navy. She was assigned as the Chief of Orthopedics at the Navy Medical Center in Bethesda and she reorganized Reservist Department of the medical center during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
• Orlando Llenza, Major General, U.S. Air Force
  Llenza is the second Puerto Rican to reach the rank of Major General (two-star General) in the United States Air Force. He was the Adjutant General of the Puerto Rico National Guard.
• Carlos Lozada, Private First Class, U.S. Army
  Lozada was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on November 20, 1967, at Dak To in the Republic of Vietnam.
• Carmen Lozano Dumler, 2nd Lieutenant, U.S. Women's Army Corps
  Dumler was one of the first Puerto Rican women Army officers. In 1944, she was sworn in as a 2nd Lieutenant and assigned to the 161st General Hospital in San Juan.
• Antonio Maldonado, Brigadier General, U.S. Air Force
  In 1965, Maldonado became the youngest person to pilot a B-52 aircraft. His active participation in the Vietnam War included 183 air combat missions.
• Joseph (José) R. Martinez, Private First Class, U.S. Army
  Martinez destroyed a German Infantry unit and tank in Tuniz by providing heavy artillery fire, saving his platoon from being attacked in the process. He received the Distinguished Service Cross from General George S. Patton, becoming the first Puerto Rican recipient of said military decoration.
• Lester Martínez López, MD, MPH, Major General, U.S. Army
  Martínez López was the first Hispanic to head the Army Medical and Research Command.
• Gilberto José Marxuach, Colonel, U.S. Army
  Marxuach, the son of Teófilo Marxuach, is "The Father of the San Juan Civil Defense"
• Teófilo Marxuach, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army
  Marxuach fired a hostile shot from a cannon located at the Santa Rosa battery of "El Morro" fort, 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, forcing the Odenwald to stop and to return to port where its supplies were confiscated.
• George E. Mayer, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy
  Mayer was the first Hispanic Commander of the Naval Safety Center. He led an international naval exercise known as Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) 2003 from his flagship, the USS Vella Gulf (CG-72). It was the first time in the 31 year history of BALTOPS that the exercise included combined ground troops from Russia, Poland, Denmark and the United States.
• Angel Mendez Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps
  Mendez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, was awarded the Navy Cross in Vietnam and is being considered for the Medal of Honor. He saved the life of his Lieutenant - Ronald D. Castille, who went on to become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
• Enrique Méndez, Jr., Major General, U.S. Army
  Méndez was the first Puerto Rican to assume the positions of Army Deputy Surgeon General, Commander of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.
• Virgil R. Miller, Colonel, U.S. Army
  Miller was the Regimental Commander of the 442d Regimental Combat Team (RCT), a unit which was composed of "Nisei" (second generation Americans of Japanese descent), during World War II. He led the 442nd in its rescue of the Lost Texas Battalion of the 36th Infantry Division, in the forests of the Vosges Mountains in northeastern France.
• José Antonio Muñiz, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air Force
  Muñiz together with then-Colonels Alberto A. Nido and Mihiel Gilormini founded the Puerto Rico Air National Guard. In 1963, the Air National Guard Base, at the San Juan International airport in Puerto Rico, was renamed "Muñiz Air National Guard Base" in his honor.
• William A. Navas, Jr., Major General, U.S. Army
  Navas is the first Puerto Rican named Assistant Secretary of the Navy. A veteran of the Vietnam War, Navas was nominated in 2001 by President George W. Bush to serve as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs).
• Héctor Andrés Negroni, Colonel, U.S. Air Force
  Negroni was the first Puerto Rican graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. A Veteran of the Vietnam War, Negroni was awarded the Aeronautical Merit Cross, Spains highest Air Force peacetime award for his contributions to the successful implementation of the United States-Spain Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation.
• Alberto A. Nido, Brigadier General, U.S. Air Force
  Nido was a World War II hero who, together with then Colonel Mihiel Gilormini and Lieutenant Colonel Jose Antonio Muñiz, founded the Puerto Rico Air National Guard and served as its commander for many years. Nido served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, the British Royal Air Force and in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.
• Ramón Núñez-Juárez, Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps
  Núñez-Juárez was listed as Missing in Action during the Korean War and posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, second highest medal after the Medal of Honor, that can be awarded by the Department of the Navy. He was the only Puerto Rican member of the United States Marine Corps whose remains have never been recovered and who was listed as Missing in Action during the Korean War.
• Jorge Otero Barreto, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army
  Otero Barreto with 38 decorations, which included 3 Silver Star Medals, 5 Bronze Star Medals with Valor, 4 Army Commendation medals, 5 Purple Heart Medals and 5 Air Medals, has been called the most decorated U.S. soldier of the Vietnam War.
• Dr. Dolores Piñero, U.S. Army Medical Corps
  Piñero, who despite the fact that she was not an active member of the military, was the first Puerto Rican woman doctor to serve in the Army under contract during World War I. At first she was turned down, however after writing a letter to the Army Surgeon General in Washington, D.C. she was ordered her to report to Camp Las Casas in Santurce, Puerto Rico. On October 1918, She signed her contract with the Army.
• José M. Portela, Brigadier General U.S. Air Force
  Portela served in the position of Assistant Adjutant General for Air while also serving as commander of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard. In 1972, Portela became the youngest C-141 Starlifter aircraft commander and captain at age 22. Portela is also the only reservist ever to serve as director of mobility forces for Bosnia.
• Marion Frederic Ramírez de Arellano, Captain, U.S. Navy
  Ramírez de Arellano was the first Hispanic submarine commander. He was awarded two Silver Stars and a Bronze Star for his actions against the Japanese Imperial Navy during World War II.
• Antonio J. Ramos, Brigadier General, U.S. Air Force
  Ramos was the first Hispanic to serve as commander, Air Force Security Assistance Center, Air Force Materiel Command, and dual-hatted as Assistant to the Commander for International Affairs, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command.
• Agustín Ramos Calero, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army
  With 22 military decorations Ramos Calero was the most decorated soldier in all of the United States during World War II.
• Fernando L. Ribas-Dominicci, Major, U.S. Air Force
  Ribas-Dominicci was one of the pilots who participated in the Libyan air raid as member of the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing. His F-111F was shot down in action over the disputed Gulf of Sidra off the Libyan coast. Ribas-Dominicci and his weapons systems officer, Capt. Paul Lorence, were the only U.S. casualties of Operation El Dorado Canyon.
• Frederick Lois Riefkohl, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy
  Riefkohl was the first Puerto Rican to graduate from the United States Naval Academy and in World War I became the first Puerto Rican to be awarded the Navy Cross.
• Rudolph W. Riefkohl, Colonel, U.S. Army
  Riefkohl played an instrumental role in helping the people of Poland overcome the 1919 typhus epidemic.
• Félix Rigau Carrera, 2nd Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps
  Rigau Carrera was the first Puerto Rican pilot and the first Hispanic fighter pilot in the United States Marine Corps. Rigau Carrera was also the first Puerto Rican parachutist and the first pilot to fly on air mail carrying duties in Puerto Rico.
• Manuel Rivera, Jr., Captain, U.S. Marine Corps
  Rivera, who is of Puerto Rican descent, was the first U.S. serviceman to die in Operation Desert Shield.
• Pedro N. Rivera, M.D., Brigadier General, U.S. Air Force
  In 1994, Rivera became the first Hispanic to be named medical commander in the Air Force. He was responsible for the provision of health of health care to more than 50,000 patients.
• Horacio Rivero, Admiral, U.S. Navy
  In 1964, Rivero became the first Puerto Rican and second Hispanic Admiral (four-star) of the U.S. Navy. Rivero participated in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and in 1962, Admiral Rivero was the commander of the American fleet sent by President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis to set up a quarantine (blockade) of the Soviet ships in an effort to stop the Cold War from escalating into World War III.
• Pedro Rodríguez, Master Sergeant, U.S. Army
  Rodríguez was a member of Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry. He earned two Silver Stars within a seven-day period during the Korean War..
• Antonio Rodríguez Balinas, Brigadier General, U.S. Army
  Rodríguez Balinas was the first commander of the Office of the First U.S. Army Deputy Command. During the Korean War he fought with Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry Regiment and was awarded the Silver Star Medal
• Maria Rodriguez Denton, Lieutenant Junior Grade, U.S. Navy
  Rodriguez Denton was the first woman from Puerto Rico who became an officer in the United States Navy as member of the WAVES. It was Lt. Denton who forwarded the news (through channels) to President Harry S. Truman that the war had ended.
• Fernando E. Rodríguez Vargas, DDS, Major, U.S. Army
  Rodríguez Vargas was an odontologist (dentist), scientist and a Major in the U.S. Army who in 1921 discovered the bacteria which causes dental caries.
• Eurípides Rubio, Captain, U.S. Army
  Rubio was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Tay Ninh Province in the Republic of Vietnam on November 8, 1966.
• Jaime Sabater, Sr., Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps
  Sabater commanded the 1st Battalion 9th Marines during the Bougainville amphibious operations in World War II.
• José L. Santiago, Sergeant Major, U.S. Marine Corps
  Santiago has the distinction of being the 2nd Battalion 9th Marines first Hispanic Sergeant Major and its first Sergeant Major since its reactivation on July 13, 2007.
• Héctor Santiago-Colón, Specialist 4, U.S. Army
  In 1968, Santiago-Colón was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam as member of Company B of the 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division.
• Antulio Segarra, Colonel, U.S. Army
  In 1943, Segarra became the first Puerto Rican Regular Army officer to command a Regular Army Regiment when he assumed the command of Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry Regiment which at the time was conducting security missions in the jungles of Panama.
• Frankie Segarra, Master Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps
  Segarra is the first Puerto Rican to reach the grade of Master Gunnery Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps within his MOS.
• Rafel Toro, Private, U.S. Marine Corps
  Toro was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his "extraordinary heroism in battle" while fighting in Nicaragua during the second Nicaragua campaign in 1927.
• Humbert Roque Versace, Captain, U.S. Army
  Versace, who is of Italian and Puerto Rican descent, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions while a prisoner of war (POW) during the Vietnam War in 2002. He was the first member of the U.S. Army to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions performed in Southeast Asia while in captivity.
• Raúl G. Villaronga, Colonel, U.S. Army
  Villaronga was the first Puerto Rican to be elected as Mayor of a Texas city (Killeen).