IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 253 
Recognizing the service, courage, and patriotism of Hispanic Americans who 
have served and continue to serve as members of the United States 
Armed Forces. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 9, 2007 
Mr. RANGEL (for himself, Mr. BACA, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. COSTA, Mr. 
FORTUN˜O, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. 
REYES, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. SIRES, and Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) sub-
mitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the service, courage, and patriotism of Hispanic 
Americans who have served and continue to serve as 
members of the United States Armed Forces. 
Whereas people of Hispanic or Latino descent, including 
Puerto Ricans and many other Americans, come from 
various countries, including Mexico, the Dominican Re-
public, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, 
Portugal, and Spain, and share a variety of racial back-
grounds including Black, White, and Asian; 
Whereas men and women of Hispanic descent have served in 
every major military conflict in the history of the United 
States; 
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•HCON 253 IH 
Whereas Hispanic servicemen and servicewomen have been 
awarded 42 Congressional Medals of Honor for distin-
guished service in United States wars, receiving more of 
these awards than any other ethnic group; 
Whereas there are approximately 1,300,000 living Hispanic 
veterans in the United States; 
Whereas Department of Defense data shows that as of Au-
gust 2006, over 210,000 servicemembers of Hispanic de-
scent were serving in the United States military and 
more than 400 Hispanics have died in Afghanistan and 
Iraq as of June 2007; 
Whereas close to 20,000 Hispanic Americans participated in 
the Persian Gulf war and 26 Hispanic servicemembers 
died in combat during that war; 
Whereas, during the Vietnam war, more than 80,000 His-
panic Americans served in the United States Armed 
Forces, over 3,000 Hispanic Americans died in combat, 
and 16 Hispanic Americans were awarded the Congres-
sional Medal of Honor; 
Whereas nearly 150,000 Hispanic Americans served in the 
Korean war, including 61,000 Puerto Ricans, and during 
that war, 8 Hispanic officers were awarded the Congres-
sional Medal of Honor; 
Whereas the Puerto Rican 65th Infantry Regiment was the 
only all-Hispanic unit in the Korean War, and while serv-
ing with distinction, earned 4 Distinguished Service 
Crosses and 124 Silver Stars; 
Whereas the Puerto Rican 65th Infantry Regiment is cred-
ited with the last recorded battalion-sized bayonet assault 
in the history of the United States Army; 
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•HCON 253 IH 
Whereas a total of 6 Hispanic Americans were flying aces in 
World War II and the Korean war; 
Whereas 400,000 to 500,000 Hispanic servicemembers served 
in the United States Armed Forces during World War II, 
including approximately 200 Puerto Rican women who 
served in the Women’s Army Corp and served in the crit-
ical role of ‘‘Code Talkers’’ to avoid enemy intelligence, 
and in that war, 13 Hispanic servicemembers were 
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor; 
Whereas many Latinos of World War II and the Korean and 
Vietnam eras joined with African-Americans to fight ra-
cial barriers so that later generations could enjoy greater 
opportunities; 
Whereas in World War I, approximately 200,000 Hispanic 
Americans were mobilized, the majority of Mexican de-
scent; 
Whereas 3 Mexican Americans were awarded the Congres-
sional Medal of Honor during the Civil War; 
Whereas approximately 10,000 Mexican Americans, including 
women, served in the regular Army during the Civil War 
and in the volunteer units of the Union and the Confed-
eracy; 
Whereas, during the War of 1812, Hispanic American troops 
in Louisiana and the surrounding areas were instru-
mental in General Andrew Jackson’s defeat of the Brit-
ish; 
Whereas the first Hispanic involvement in America’s military 
history was during the Revolutionary War in 1777; 
Whereas in the decisive Battle of Yorktown, 4,000 Spanish, 
Puerto Rican, and Cuban soldiers were killed and wound-
ed in the defeat of British forces; 
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•HCON 253 IH 
Whereas the bravery and patriotism of Hispanic servicemen 
and servicewomen remain unquestioned despite their sec-
ond-class treatment at home; 
Whereas Hispanic men and women on the battlefield faced a 
dual hardship of encountering discrimination, language 
barriers, and cultural insensitivity within their ranks, 
while placing their lives and safety on the line in a heroic 
manner; 
Whereas, during World War II, Latinos faced segregation in 
many public institutions, and continued to serve their 
country loyally, and then returned from the battlefield to 
dismantle the racial barriers of their time; and 
Whereas the contributions of Hispanics to the United States 
Armed Forces have been largely unrecognized in Amer-
ican history: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This concurrent resolution may be cited as the ‘‘His-
panic American Heroes Resolution’’. 
SEC. 
2. 
RECOGNITION 
OF 
HISPANIC 
AMERICAN 
SERVICEMEMBERS. 
Congress recognizes Hispanic servicemembers for 
their courage on the battlefield throughout the history of 
the United States, as well as their determination, dis-
cipline, selfless service, and patriotism. 
Æ 
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