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 to 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, U.S. Congress changed the name back to "Puerto Rico"). 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 El Morro Castle at a German ship in San Juan Bay. Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens as a result of the 1917 Jones-Shafroth Act and those who were eligible were expected to serve in the military. Puerto Ricans who resided in the island were assigned to the "Porto Rico Provisional Regiment of Infantry", organized on June 30, 1901. The United States implemented the policy of military segregated units in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans of African descent where assigned to units made up only of blacks, such as the 375th Regiment. 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 U.S. in those days.
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. It is, however, impossible to determine the exact number of Puerto Ricans who resided in the United States mainland 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 servitude
Puerto Ricans fought and defended their homeland against attacks from the Caribs and pirates. They fought against the invasions of foreign countries and defeated the British, French, and Dutch in doing so. They fought alongside General Bernardo de Gálvez during the American Revolutionary War in the battles of Baton Rouge, Mobile, Pensacola and St. Louis. and in Europe 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. 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 "Tagalos" during the Philippine Revolution.
The Porto Rico Regiment
Puerto Rico became a U.S. Territory in accordance to 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, 1889 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 the grade of Second Lieutenants for a term of four years if they passed the required tests. An Act of Congress, approved on May 27, 1908, reorganized the regiment as part of the "regular" Army. Since the native Puerto Rican officers where 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 U.S. citizenship with their new officers oath.
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 Las Casas Camp 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 Guzman 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. Captain Luis R. Esteves, who on June 19, 1915, became the first Hispanic to graduate from the United States Military Academy (West Point), organized the 23rd Battalion which was composed of Puerto Ricans.
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 rule, 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 municipal Culebra. As the number of Marine Aviators grew so did the avid desire to separate from Naval Aviation. 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.
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 German, 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 and 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. Teofilo Marxuach's unit of the Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry was stationed at El Morro Castle, (then an Army base called Fort Brooke) at San Juan Bay. The United States tried to remain neutral when World War I broke out in August 1914. However Washington insisted on its neutral right to send ships without them being attacked by German U-boats. The American ships carried food and raw materials to Britain. On March 21, 1915, Lt. Marxuach was the officer of the day at El Morro Castle. The Odenwald , built in 1903 (not to be confused with the German World War II war ship which carried the same name), was an armed German supply ship which tried to force its way out of the San Juan Bay and deliver supplies to the German U-boats waiting in the Atlantic Ocean. Lt. Marxuach gave the order to open fire on the ship from the walls of the fort. Sergeant Encarnacion Correa then manned a machine gun and opened fire with little effect. Marxuach then ordered a cannon located at the Santa Rosa battery to fire a warning shot, forcing the Odenwald to stop and to return to port where its supplies were confiscated. The shots ordered by Lt. Marxuach were the first fired by the United States in World War I.
International protest
Marxuach's actions became an international incident when the German Government accused the United States Government of the holding the Odenwald illegally against its will without firing the customary 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 commander of the fortress of El Morro Castle, Lt. Col. Burnham, made it clear that only warning shots were made and that none were aimed at the Odenwald. Eventually, the Odenwald was refitted and renamed SS Newport by the U.S. Government and assigned to the U.S. Shipping Board, where it served until 1924 when it was retired. In 1917 the Germans resumed submarine attacks, knowing that it would lead to
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