page_title: Puerto Ricans in the Vietnam War
section_title: Racial tensions of the 1960s
hierarchical_section_title: Puerto Ricans in the Vietnam War / Racial tensions of the 1960s
caption_attribution_description: English: I'm the Marine in the middle and I own the copyright to this photo which I took with a self timer and which appears on the documentary On Two Fronts, Latinos and Vietnam. Example: [1] and [2]
context_page_description: Commencing with World War I, 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. Accordingly, thousands of Puerto Ricans served in the Armed Forces of the United States during the Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War. Hundreds of them died, either killed in action or while prisoners of war. The Vietnam War started as a Cold War, and escalated into a military conflict that spread to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to April 30, 1975.
  Puerto Ricans served in different positions throughout the military as commanders, fighter pilots and common foot soldiers. Many of them distinguished themselves in combat and were awarded the highest honors conferred by the military. Five were awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest United States military decoration; five were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest military decoration of the United States Army; and three received the Navy Cross, the second-highest medal that can be awarded by the U.S. Navy. The Navy Cross is awarded to members of the U.S. Navy or U.S.
context_section_description: The Vietnam War coincided with the protests of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s America. Minority groups, such as Hispanics were discriminated at home, but also within the U.S. armed forces. According to a study made in 1990, by the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, and New York State Psychiatric Institute; called the National Survey of the Vietnam Generation (NSVG), Hispanics, among them Puerto Ricans, were younger than both Black and White majority veterans when they went to Vietnam. Hispanics experienced more prejudice and discrimination in Vietnam than Blacks. Minority groups would often band together with those of their own racial or ethnic backgrounds. One such group was "Puerto Rican Power in Unity" which eventually became "Latin Power in Unity." The objective of this group was to unite all the Hispanic Marines regardless of their national background, as a brotherhood. Together they shared their cultures and demanded to be treated equally as their Black and White counterparts in the military.
caption: "On Two Fronts: Latinos & Vietnam"
   (L to R) PFC Herrera, L/Cpl Santiago, PFC Garza
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)"}