Note: Due to systemc racism and limied documentation of participation of Latinos in U.S. war not all the sacrifices of Latinos have been counted.
However, it is clear that we were involved in varying degrees in all U.S. wars, though, early White historians did not consider our deaths worthy of even counting our deaths with distinction.
The U.S. is used instead of America because the Americas includes all of the Americas, including Central America and South America.
The term Latinos is used in preference to Hispanics or the vague La Raza..
Researched by Peter S. Lopez ~aka Peta de Aztlan
Yahoo Email:sacranative@yahoo.com
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By the end of the Civil War (1861-1865} almost 10,000 Mexican Americans had served in regular army or volunteer units. Some 2,500 Mexican Americans went to war for the Confederacy, while 950 volunteered for service in the Union Army.
On April 11, 1898, at the start of the Spanish-American War, the U.S. army had 30,000 officers and men. On June 1898 in Cuba, among the 17,000 American soldiers who landed there were the 1,200 men of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry of the "Rough Riders" under Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt which included several Hispanic Americans.
In World War I (1914-1918) , U.S. participation lasted only from April 1917 to November 1918. One Latino soldier, a Private Serna, received the Medal of Honor for his services in the war. In 1917, just before the United States entered the war, Puerto Ricans were granted American citizenship and became liable for the military draft. Subsequently, 18,000 Puerto Ricans served as members of the racially segregated U.S. armed forces.
At the start of World War II (1939-1945), approximately 2,690,000 Americans of Mexican decent lived in the U.S.A. of which 85% lived in the five southwestern states (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado) of Aztlan.
In 1940, while the U.S. was still at peace, two National Guard units from New Mexico, the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery (Anti-aircraft) battalions were activated and dispatched to the Philippine Islands. Largely made up of Spanish-speaking personnel from New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. .
On December 7, 1941, Japan launched the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, forcing America into war. In the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur moved his forces, including the 200th and 515th which includes Latinos, to the Bataan Peninsula west of Manila.
On April 9, 1942, after a heroic three-month stand, most of the surviving troops surrendered. After their capture, they endursed the 12-day, 85-mile "death march" from Bataan to the prison camps, followed by 34 months of captivity.
In the Pacific theater, the 158th Regimental Combat Team, known as the Bushmasters, an Arizona National Guard unit comprised of many Latino soldiers, saw heavy combat. General MacArthur who referred to them as "the greatest fighting combat team ever deployed for battle."
Company E of the 141st Regiment of the 36th Texas Infantry Division was made up entirely of Spanish-speaking Americans, the majority of them from Texas. After 361 days of combat in Italy and France, the 141st Infantry Regiment sustained 1,126 killed, 5,000 wounded, and over 500 missing in action. In all, twelve Hispanic soldiers received the Medal of Honor for their services during World War II. From 1940 to 1946, more than 65,000 Puerto Ricans served in the American military.
During the Korean War (1950-1953), the 43,434 Puerto Ricans serving in the 65th Infantry Regiment saw extensive service in nine major campaigns, losing 582 men in battlefield action.
A total of nine Latinos received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the three-year war.
During the Vietnam War (1963-1973), around 80,000 Latinos served in the U.S. military. At the time, Latinos only made up about 4.5% of the total U.S. population yet incurred more than 19% of the casualties. In all, thirteen Latino soldiers won the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.
Twenty thousand Latinos ~ men and women ~ participated in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm (1990-1991). In March 1994, 28,067 Latinos comprising just over 5% of the Army, served in the army.
In the U.S.A. general population, Whites are at 75.1%, Latnos are at 12.5%, and Blacks at 12.3%/
Latinos are the largest minority group who have died in Iraq at 11%. Latinos are dying in unusually high numbers, are being lured into dangerous service with targeted recruiting by the Armed Forces and are being disproportionately exposed to risk and sent to the front lines.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, while Latinos make up 9.5 percent of the actively enlisted forces, they are over-represented in the categories that get the most dangerous assignments -- infantry, gun crews and seamanship -- and make up over 17.5 percent of the front lines.
These worries have been exacerbated during the recent conflict in Iraq. As of Aug. 28, Department of Defense (DOD) statistics show a casualty rate of more than 13 percent for people of Hispanic background serving in Iraq.
According to the 2000 Census, Latinos have surpassed African Americans as the largest minority group in the country. Latinos now comprise 12.5 percent of the U.S. population, and are the fastest growing minority. More than 50 percent of the Latino population (almost 18 million people) are in Texas and California
Another tactic suspected of targeting Latinos is an executive order signed by U.S. President George W. Bush in July 2002, expediting naturalisation for aliens and non-citizen nationals who serve in active-duty status during the administration's ''war on terrorism''.
The order, effective for all military personnel who enlisted after the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, allows non-citizens to apply for citizenship immediately upon arrival at their first military base, rather than having to wait the usual three to four years.
According to Bush, persons ''serving honourably in active-duty status in the Armed Forces'', do a service to their new country so they should be granted citizenship more quickly than via regular channels.
DOD numbers reveal 35,000 non-citizens currently in the active Armed Forces, 15,000 of whom became eligible for expedited naturalisation under the executive order.
Department officials strenuously denied that the order was targeted at the Hispanic population.
While two army recruiters in the Washington area denied using the expedited citizenship order as a selling point during recruitment pitches, both told IPS that they mention the ''benefit'' as one part of the recruitment package.
More than 1,900 U.S. service members have died in Iraq since the war started. Of that number, 11 percent were Latino according to a table updated in August of this year. Since then, it goes without saying that the probability of more Latino and Latina soldiers having died in the line of duty, has increased. The number of Latinos dying in Iraq is second only to whites, who at 73 percent, comprise the largest group.
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"What can we say of the young Latino men who sacrificed their lives in Iraq? That they fought without knowing their enemy, played their role as pawns in a geopolitical chess game devised by arrogant bureaucrats, and died simply trying to get an education; trying to have a fair shot at the American Dream that has eluded the vast majority of Latinos for over a century and a half. "
~ Jorge Mariscal, a professor at the University of California, San Diego
According to Pew Hispanic Center, Latinos make up 9.5 percent of the actively enlisted forces, are over-represented in the categories that get the most dangerous assignments -- infantry, gun crews and seamanship -- and make up over 17.5 percent of the front lines. The Department of Defense (DOD) statistics show a casualty rate of more than 13 percent for people of Latino background serving in Iraq.
Also, more than 50 percent of the Hispanic population (almost 18 million people) lived in Texas and California, states that are historically large recruitment centers for the Armed Forces.
service to their new country so they should be granted citizenship more quickly than via regular channels. DOD numbers reveal 35,000 non-citizens currently in the active Armed Forces, 15,000 of whom became eligible for expedited naturalization under the executive order.
"That they fought without knowing their enemy, played their role as pawns in a geopolitical chess game devised by arrogant bureaucrats, and died simply trying to get an education; trying to have a fair shot at the American Dream that has eluded the vast majority of Latinos for over a century and a half.''
SOURCES: For further information and verification see:
U.S. Latino Patriots: From the American Revolution to Afghanistan, An Overview
By Refugio I. Rochin and Lionel Fernandez
http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/17.3.pdf
HISPANIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICA'S DEFENSE:
By John P. Schmal
http://www.houstonculture.org/hispanic/memorial.html
Email: info@houstonculture.org
Hispanic Soldiers Die in Greater Numbers in Iraq: September 2003
by Miriam Kagan
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0922-02.htm &
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=20226
Latinos Account for the Highest Percentage of Minority Soldiers Killed in Iraq: September 2005
http://latinalista.blogspot.com/2005/09/latinos-account-for-highest-percentage.html
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