page_title: Hispanics in the United States Marine Corps
section_title: World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Hispanics in the United States Marine Corps / World War I
caption_attribution_description: A Curtiss C-3 was the first plane of the United States Marine Corps, photographed at Culebra, Puerto Rico, in 1913.
context_page_description: Hispanics in the United States Marine Corps, such as Private France Silva who during the Boxer Rebellion became the first Marine of the thirteen Marines of Hispanic descent to be awarded the Medal of Honor, and Private First Class Guy Gabaldon who is credited with capturing over 1,000 enemy soldiers and civilians during World War II, have distinguished themselves in combat. Hispanics have participated as members of the United States Marine Corps in the Boxer Rebellion, World War I, the American intervention in Latin America also known as the Banana Wars, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and most recently in the military campaigns of Afghanistan and Iraq.
  Hispanics are also reaching the top ranks of the Marine Corps, serving their country in sensitive leadership positions on domestic and foreign shores, with generals such as Major General Angela Salinas and Lieutenant General Pedro del Valle. Many Hispanic Marines went on to distinguished careers outside of the military in different fields such as sports and space exploration.
  Hispanics in the Marine Corps account for the largest minority group of that military institution.
context_section_description: During World War I, the Marine Corps' 2nd Division fought alongside the U.S. Army's 36th Infantry Division in the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge in Champagne, France. The result of this battle was the expulsion of the Germany Army from the Champagne Region.
  Private Joe Nichols Viera of the 78th Company, 6th Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, was awarded the Navy Cross Medal, the second highest medal that can be awarded by the U.S. Navy and which is awarded to members of the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps for heroism or distinguished service. On October 3, 1918, Viera, captured three enemy machine gun nests and with the aid of another Marine captured forty enemy soldiers in the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the United States Army second highest medal, for the same action.
  Marine aviation was fairly new, it came into existence on May 22, 1912, and the first major expansion of the Marine Corps' air component, of which Puerto Rico played a major rule, came with America's entrance into World War I. On January 6, 1914, First Lieutenant Bernard L. Smith established the Marine Section of the Navy Flying School in the island municipal  Culebra. As the number of Marine Aviators grew so did the avid desire to separate from Naval Aviation. By doing so, the Marine Aviation  was designated as separate from the United States Naval Aviation. The creation of a "Marine Corps Aviation Company in Puerto Rico consisted of 10 officers and 40 enlisted men.
  In 1915, Lieutenant Pedro Augusto del Valle, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
  Lieutenant del Valle helped the Marine Corps in the capture of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in 1916, for which he was awarded his first Legion of Merit. He commanded the Marine detachment on board the USS Texas (BB-35) in the North Atlantic during World War I. In 1919, del Valle participated in the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet.
caption: The first USMC plane: a Curtiss C-3 in Culebra, Puerto Rico.
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