I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1726 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 65th Infantry Regiment, known 
as the Borinqueneers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 25, 2013 
Mr. POSEY (for himself and Mr. PIERLUISI) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addi-
tion to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
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, 
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. 
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(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 
because United States Army policy at the time re-
stricted most segregated units to noncombat roles, 
although the regiment could have contributed to the 
fighting effort. 
(3) In June 1920, the unit was re-designated as 
the ‘‘65th Infantry Regiment, United States Army’’, 
and it would serve as the United States military’s 
last segregated unit composed of Hispanic soldiers. 
(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 
deploying overseas in the spring of 1944. 
(5) Despite the Regiment’s relatively limited 
combat service in World War II, the unit suffered 
casualties in the course of defending against enemy 
attacks, with individual soldiers earning one Distin-
guished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, two Bronze 
Stars and 90 Purple Hearts, and the unit receiving 
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of the Korean War during PORTREX, one of the 
largest military exercises that had been conducted 
up until that point, where the Regiment distin-
guished itself by repelling an offensive consisting of 
over 32,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division 
and the United States Marine Corps, supported by 
the Navy and Air Force, thereby demonstrating that 
Puerto Rican soldiers could hold their own against 
some of the best-trained soldiers in the United 
States military. 
(9) In August 1950, as the United States 
Army’s situation in Korea deteriorated, the com-
mander of the 3rd Infantry Division requested an-
other infantry regiment to be added to his organiza-
tion and, owing in large part to the 65th Infantry 
Regiment’s outstanding performance during PORT-
REX, it was selected for the assignment. 
(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 Taino 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 
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‘‘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 negative stereotypes, includ-
ing Brigadier General William W. Harris, whose ex-
perience eventually led him to regard the Regiment 
as ‘‘the best damn soldiers that I had ever seen’’. 
(13) Arriving in Pusan, South Korea in Sep-
tember 1950, the regiment was assigned the mission 
of destroying or capturing small groups of North 
Korean soldiers, and 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) In December 1950, following China’s 
intervention in the war, the Regiment engaged in a 
series of fierce battles with the enemy to cover the 
rear guard of the 1st Marine Division as it executed 
one of the greatest withdrawals in modern military 
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history during the fighting retreat from the Chosin 
Reservoir. 
(15) The Regiment was instrumental in helping 
to secure the final foothold for the Marine evacu-
ation at Hungham, and was among the last units to 
leave the beachhead on Christmas Eve, suffering tre-
mendous casualties in the process. 
(16) The winter conditions in Korea presented 
significant hardships for the Regiment, which suf-
fered hundreds of casualties because its soldiers 
lacked appropriate gear to fight in sub-zero tempera-
tures. 
(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 
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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 
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 critical role in the 
United States 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. 
(21) By 1952, in light of the Regiment’s proven 
fighting abilities, senior United States commanders 
ordered that replacement soldiers from Puerto Rico 
should no longer be limited to service in the Regi-
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ment, but could be made available to fill personnel 
shortages in non-segregated units both inside and 
outside the 3rd Infantry Division, a major milestone 
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 due to discrimination and 
prejudice, including— 
(A) the humiliation of being ordered to 
shave their moustaches ‘‘until such a time as 
they gave proof of their manhood’’; 
(B) being forced to use separate showering 
facilities from their non-Hispanic ‘‘Continental’’ 
officers; 
(C) being ordered not to speak Spanish 
under penalty of court-martial; 
(D) 
flawed 
personnel-rotation 
policies 
based on ethnic and organizational prejudices; 
and 
(E) a catastrophic shortage of trained non-
commissioned officers. 
(23) In 1953, the now fully integrated Regi-
ment earned admiration for its relentless defense of 
Outpost Harry, during which it confronted multiple 
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