II 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 1726 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MAY 20, 2014 
Received 
AN ACT 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 65th Infantry 
Regiment, known as the Borinqueneers. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) In 1898, the United States acquired Puerto 
Rico in the Treaty of Paris that ended the Spanish- 
American War and, by the following year, Congress 
had authorized raising a unit of volunteer soldiers in 
the newly acquired territory. 
(2) In May 1917, two months after legislation 
granting United States citizenship to individuals 
born in Puerto Rico was signed into law, and one 
month after the United States entered World War I, 
the unit was transferred to the Panama Canal Zone 
in part because United States Army policy at the 
time restricted most segregated units to noncombat 
roles, even though the regiment could have contrib-
uted to the fighting effort. 
(3) In June 1920, the unit was re-designated as 
the ‘‘65th Infantry Regiment, United States Army’’, 
and served as the United States military’s last seg-
regated unit composed primarily of Hispanic sol-
diers. 
(4) In January 1943, 13 months after the at-
tack on Pearl Harbor that marked the entry of the 
United States into World War II, the Regiment 
again deployed to the Panama Canal Zone before de-
ploying overseas in the spring of 1944. 
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(5) Despite relatively limited combat service in 
World War II, the Regiment suffered casualties in 
the course of defending against enemy attacks, with 
individual soldiers earning one Distinguished Service 
Cross, two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars and 90 
Purple Hearts. The Regiment received campaign 
participation credit for Rome-Arno, Rhineland, 
Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe. 
(6) Although an executive order issued by 
President Harry S. Truman in July 1948 declared 
it to be United States policy to ensure equality of 
treatment and opportunity for all persons in the 
armed services without respect to race or color, im-
plementation of this policy had yet to be fully real-
ized when armed conflict broke out on the Korean 
Peninsula in June 1950, and both African-American 
soldiers and Puerto Rican soldiers served in seg-
regated units. 
(7) Brigadier General William W. Harris, who 
served as the Regiment’s commander during the 
early stages of the Korean War, later recalled that 
he had initially been reluctant to take the position 
because of ‘‘prejudice’’ within the military and ‘‘the 
feeling of the officers and even the brass of the Pen-
tagon * * * that the Puerto Rican wouldn’t make 
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a good combat soldier * * * I know my contem-
poraries felt that way and, in all honesty, I must 
admit that at the time I had the same feeling * * 
* that the Puerto Rican was a rum and Coca-Cola 
soldier.’’. 
(8) One of the first opportunities the Regiment 
had to prove its combat worthiness arose on the eve 
of the Korean War during Operation PORTREX, 
one of the largest military exercises that had been 
conducted up until that point, where the Regiment 
distinguished itself by repelling an offensive con-
sisting of over 32,000 troops from the 82nd Air-
borne Division and the United States Marine Corps, 
supported by the Navy and Air Force, thereby dem-
onstrating that the Regiment could hold its own 
against some of the best-trained forces in the United 
States military. 
(9) In August 1950, with the United States 
Army’s situation in Korea deteriorating, the Depart-
ment of the Army’s headquarters decided to bolster 
the 3rd Infantry Division and, owing in part to the 
65th Infantry Regiment’s outstanding performance 
during Operation PORTREX, it was among the 
units selected for the combat assignment. The deci-
sion to send the Regiment to Korea and attach it to 
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the 3rd Infantry Division was a landmark change in 
the United States military’s racial and ethnic policy. 
(10) As the Regiment sailed to Asia in Sep-
tember 1950, members of the unit informally de-
cided to call themselves the ‘‘Borinqueneers’’, a term 
derived from the Taı´no word for Puerto Rico mean-
ing ‘‘land of the brave lord’’. 
(11) The story of the 65th Infantry Regiment 
during the Korean War has been aptly described as 
‘‘one of pride, courage, heartbreak, and redemp-
tion’’. 
(12) Fighting as a segregated unit from 1950 
to 1952, the Regiment participated in some of the 
fiercest battles of the war, and its toughness, cour-
age and loyalty earned the admiration of many who 
had previously harbored reservations about Puerto 
Rican soldiers based on lack of previous fighting ex-
perience and negative stereotypes, including Briga-
dier General Harris, whose experience eventually led 
him to regard the Regiment as ‘‘the best damn sol-
diers that I had ever seen’’. 
(13) After disembarking at Pusan, South Korea 
in September 1950, the Regiment blocked the escape 
routes of retreating North Korean units and over-
came pockets of resistance. The most significant bat-
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tle took place near Yongam-ni in October when the 
Regiment routed a force of 400 enemy troops. By 
the end of the month, the Regiment had taken 921 
prisoners while killing or wounding more than 600 
enemy soldiers. Its success led General Douglas 
MacArthur, Commander-in-Chief of the United Na-
tions Command in Korea, to observe that the Regi-
ment was ‘‘showing magnificent ability and courage 
in field operations’’. 
(14) The Regiment landed on the eastern coast 
of North Korea in early November 1950. In Decem-
ber 1950, following China’s intervention in the war, 
the Regiment engaged in a series of fierce battles to 
cover the rear guard of the 1st Marine Division dur-
ing the fighting retreat from the Chosin Reservoir to 
the enclave at Hungnam, North Korea, one of the 
greatest withdrawals in modern military history. 
(15) When General MacArthur ordered the 
evacuation of Hungnam in mid-December, the Regi-
ment was instrumental in securing the port, and was 
among the last units—if not the last unit—to depart 
the beachhead on Christmas Eve, suffering signifi-
cant casualties in the process. Under the Regiment’s 
protection, 105,000 troops and 100,000 refugees 
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were evacuated, along with 350,000 tons of supplies 
and 17,500 military vehicles. 
(16) The brutal winter conditions during the 
campaign presented significant hardships for sol-
diers in the Regiment, who lacked appropriate gear 
to fight in sub-zero temperatures. 
(17) Between January and March 1951, the 
Regiment participated in numerous operations to re-
cover and retain South Korean territory lost to the 
enemy, assaulting heavily fortified enemy positions 
and conducting the last recorded battalion-sized bay-
onet assault in United States Army history. 
(18) On January 31, 1951, the commander of 
Eighth Army, Lieutenant General Matthew B. 
Ridgway, wrote to the Regiment’s commander: 
‘‘What I saw and heard of your regiment reflects 
great credit on you, your regiment, and the people 
of Puerto Rico, who can be proud of their valiant 
sons. I am confident that their battle records and 
training levels will win them high honors * * *. 
Their conduct in battle has served only to increase 
the high regard in which I hold these fine troops.’’. 
(19) On February 3, 1951, General MacArthur 
wrote: ‘‘The Puerto Ricans forming the ranks of the 
gallant 65th Infantry on the battlefields of Korea by 
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valor, determination, and a resolute will to victory 
give daily testament to their invincible loyalty to the 
United States and the fervor of their devotion to 
those immutable standards of human relations to 
which the Americans and Puerto Ricans are in com-
mon dedicated. They are writing a brilliant record of 
achievement in battle and I am proud indeed to have 
them in this command. I wish that we might have 
many more like them.’’. 
(20) The Regiment played a central role in the 
United States military’s counteroffensive responding 
to a major push by the Chinese Communist Forces 
(CFF) in 1951, winning praise for its superb per-
formance in multiple battles, including Operations 
KILLER and RIPPER, as well as for its actions on 
February 14th, when the Regiment inflicted nearly 
1,000 enemy casualties at a cost of only one killed 
and six wounded, almost singlehandedly annihilating 
a North Korean infantry regiment that had infil-
trated the defenses of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 
headquarters. 
(21) By 1952, senior United States com-
manders ordered that replacement soldiers from 
Puerto Rico would no longer be limited to service in 
the Regiment, but could be made available to fill 
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personnel shortages in non-segregated units both in-
side and outside the 3rd Infantry Division. This was 
a major milestone in United States Army policy 
that, paradoxically, harmed the Regiment by depriv-
ing it of some of Puerto Rico’s most able soldiers. 
(22) Beyond the many hardships endured by 
most American soldiers in Korea, the Regiment 
faced unique challenges arising from discrimination 
and prejudice. 
(23) In 1953, the now fully integrated Regi-
ment earned admiration for its relentless defense of 
Outpost Harry, during which it confronted multiple 
company-size probes, full-scale regimental attacks, 
and heavy artillery and mortar fire from Chinese 
forces, earning one Distinguished Service Cross, 14 
Silver Stars, 23 Bronze Stars, and 67 Purple 
Hearts, in operations that Major General Eugene W. 
Ridings described as ‘‘highly successful in that the 
enemy was denied the use of one of his best routes 
of approach into the friendly position’’. The recipient 
of the Distinguished Service Cross was then-First 
Lieutenant Richard E. Cavazos, a Mexican-Amer-
ican, who went on to become the first Latino to rise 
to the rank of four-star general in the United States 
Army. 
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(24) For its extraordinary service during the 
Korean War, the Regiment received two Presidential 
Unit Citations (Army and Navy), two Republic of 
Korea Presidential Unit Citations, a Meritorious 
Unit Commendation (Army), a Navy Unit Com-
mendation, the Bravery Gold Medal of Greece, and 
campaign participation credits for United Nations 
Offensive, CCF Intervention, First United Nations 
Counteroffensive, CCF Spring Offensive, United Na-
tions Summer-Fall Offensive, Second Korean Win-
ter, Korea Summer-Fall 1952, Third Korean Win-
ter, and Korea Summer 1953. 
(25) In Korea, soldiers in the Regiment earned 
a total of nine Distinguished Service Crosses, ap-
proximately 250 Silver Stars, over 600 Bronze 
Stars, more than 2,700 Purple Hearts. On March 
18, 2014, Master Sergeant Juan E. Negro´n 
Martı´nez received the Medal of Honor, the Nation’s 
highest award for military valor, for actions taken 
on April 28, 1951 near Kalma-Eri, Korea. 
(26) In all, some 61,000 Puerto Ricans served 
in the United States Army during the Korean War, 
the bulk of them with the 65th Infantry Regiment— 
and over the course of the war, Puerto Rican sol-
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diers suffered a disproportionately high casualty 
rate, with over 740 killed and over 2,300 wounded. 
(27) In April 1956, as part of the reduction in 
forces following the Korean War, the 65th Infantry 
Regiment was deactivated from the regular Army 
and, in February 1959, became the only regular 
Army unit to have ever been transferred to the Na-
tional Guard, when its 1st battalion and its regi-
mental number were assigned to the Puerto Rico 
National Guard, where it has remained ever since. 
(28) In 1982, the United States Army Center 
of Military History officially authorized granting the 
65th Infantry Regiment the special designation of 
‘‘Borinqueneers’’. 
(29) In the years since the Korean War, the 
achievements of the Regiment have been recognized 
in various ways, including— 
(A) the naming of streets in honor of the 
Regiment in San Juan, Puerto Rico and The 
Bronx, New York; 
(B) the erecting of monuments and 
plaques to honor the Regiment at Arlington Na-
tional Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia; the San 
Juan National Historic Site in San Juan, Puer-
to Rico; Fort Logan National Cemetery in Den-
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ver, Colorado; and at sites in Boston, Massa-
chusetts; Worcester, Massachusetts; Buffalo, 
New York; and Ocala, Florida; 
(C) 
the 
renaming 
of 
a 
park 
in 
Buenaventura Lake, Florida as the ‘‘65th In-
fantry Veterans Park’’; 
(D) the dedication of land for a park and 
monument to honor the Regiment in New Brit-
ain, Connecticut; 
(E) the adoption or introduction of resolu-
tions or proclamations honoring the Regiment 
by many state and municipal governments, in-
cluding in the states and territories of Cali-
fornia, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, 
Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jer-
sey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsyl-
vania, Puerto Rico, and Texas; and 
(F) the issuance by the United States 
Postal Service of a Korean War commemorative 
stamp depicting soldiers from the Regiment. 
(30) In a speech delivered on September 20, 
2000, at a ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery 
in honor of the Regiment, Secretary of the Army 
Louis Caldera said: ‘‘Even as the 65th struggled 
against all deadly enemies in the field, they were 
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fighting a rearguard action against a more insidious 
adversary—the cumulative effects of ill-conceived 
military policies, leadership shortcomings, and espe-
cially racial and organizational prejudices, all exacer-
bated by America’s unpreparedness for war and the 
growing pains of an Army forced by law and cir-
cumstance to carry out racial integration. Together 
these factors would take their inevitable toll on the 
65th, leaving scars that have yet to heal for so many 
of the Regiment’s proud and courageous soldiers.’’. 
(31) Secretary Caldera further stated: ‘‘To the 
veterans of the 65th Infantry Regiment who, in that 
far off land fifty years ago, fought with rare courage 
even as you endured misfortune and injustice, thank 
you for doing your duty. There can be no greater 
praise than that for any soldier of the United States 
Army.’’. 
(32) Secretary Caldera also noted that ‘‘[t]he 
men of the 65th who served in Korea are a signifi-
cant part of a proud tradition of service’’ that in-
cludes the Japanese American 442nd Regimental 
Combat Team, the African American Tuskegee Air-
men, and ‘‘many other unsung minority units 
throughout the history of our armed forces whose 
stories have never been fully told’’. 
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(33) The service of the men of the 65th Infan-
try Regiment is emblematic of the contributions to 
the armed forces that have been made by hundreds 
of thousands of brave and patriotic United States 
citizens from Puerto Rico over generations, from 
World War I to the most recent conflicts in Afghani-
stan and Iraq, and in other overseas contingency op-
erations. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) AWARD
AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 
House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 
of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 
award, on behalf of the Congress, of a single gold medal 
of appropriate design in honor of the 65th Infantry Regi-
ment, known as the Borinqueneers, in recognition of its 
pioneering military service, devotion to duty, and many 
acts of valor in the face of adversity. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the 
award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 
Treasury (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) shall strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, 
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-
retary. 
(c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 
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