Hispanics in The United States Marine Corps - World War L

World War L

During World War I, the Marine Corps' 2nd Division fought alongside the U.S. Army's 36th Infantry Division in the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge in Champagne, France. The result of this battle was the expulsion of the Germany Army from the Champagne Region.

Private Joe Nichols Viera of the 78th Company, 6th Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, was awarded the Navy Cross Medal, the second highest medal that can be awarded by the U.S. Navy and which is awarded to members of the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps for heroism or distinguished service. On October 3, 1918, Viera, captured three enemy machine gun nests and with the aid of another Marine captured forty enemy soldiers in the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the United States Army second highest medal, for the same action.

Marine aviation was fairly new, it came into existence in 1915 and the first major expansion of the Marine Corps' air component came with America's entrance into World War I. First Lieutenant Félix Rigau Carrera had received his pilot training in private pilot schools in Seattle, Washington and Minneapolis, Minnesota. He then traveled to New York City and joined the Marine Corps. After receiving additional aviation training, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and assigned to the First Marine Air Squadron which deployed to France as the newly renamed 1st Marine Aviation Force in July 1918. There Lieutenant Carrera and his unit provided bomber and fighter support to the Navy's "Day Wing, Northern Bombing Group", thus Lt. Carrera became the first Hispanic fighter pilot in the Marines.

In 1915, Lieutenant Pedro Augusto del Valle, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Lieutenant del Valle helped the Marine Corps in the capture of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in 1916, for which he was awarded his first Legion of Merit. He commanded the Marine detachment on board the USS Texas (BB-35) (BB-35) in the North Atlantic during World War I. In 1919, del Valle participated in the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet.