page_title: Hispanics in the United States Coast Guard
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Hispanics in the United States Coast Guard / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: The U.S. Coast Guard Frying Pan Lightship and Frying Pan Shoals Light, circa in 1965. The lightship was replaced after 34 years of service.
context_page_description: Hispanics in the United States Coast Guard can trace their tradition of service to the early 19th century, when they initially performed duties at light house stations as keepers and assistant keepers in its predecessor services. Hispanic is an ethnic term employed to categorize any citizen or resident of the United States, of any racial background, of any country, and of any religion, who has at least one ancestor from the people of Spain or is of non-Hispanic origin, but has an ancestor from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central or South America, or some other Hispanic origin. The three largest Hispanic groups in the United States are the Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans.
  According to the U.S. Census Bureau the estimated Hispanic population of the United States is over 50 million, or 16% of the U.S. population, and Hispanics are the nation's largest ethnic or racial minority. The 2010 U.S. Census estimate of over 50 million Hispanics in the U.S. does not include the 3.9 million residents of Puerto Rico, thereby making the people of Hispanic origin the nation's largest ethnic or race minority as of July 1, 2005.
context_section_description: During World War II, the Coast Guard was transferred to the Department of the Navy and as such many men saw action in said conflict. During the invasion of Saipan, which began on June 15, 1944, Valentin R. Fernandez, a landing craft coxswain, was awarded a Silver Lifesaving Medal for maneuvering a Marine landing party ashore under constant Japanese attack. The first known Hispanic-American Coast Guardsman to be awarded with a Bronze Star Medal was Louis Rua, whose craft, a U.S. Army large tug en route to the Philippines, went to the rescue of another ship which had been torpedoed by enemy action and helped save 277 survivors from the abandoned ship.
  Upon the outbreak of World War II, Joseph B. Aviles, Sr. received a war-time promotion to chief warrant officer (November 27, 1944), thus becoming the first Hispanic American to reach that level as well. He retired from the Coast Guard on July 27, 1946, and worked as a security guard at a hospital in Baltimore until 1962 when at the age of 65 he retired. Aviles died at his residence in Columbia, Maryland, on February 22, 1990, and was buried with full military honors in Plot D O 2220A of the Baltimore National Cemetery at Catonsville, Maryland.
  Lieutenant Junior Grade Clarence Samuels, born on Bohio, Panama, enlisted in the Coast Guard on July 16, 1920, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States on July 21, 1923. On May 12, 1939, he was appointed a chief photographer's mate becoming not only the first Hispanic of African descent photographer in the Guard, but also only the second photographer in the entire history of the service. On July 29, 1944, he assumed command of Lightship No. 115, operating in the Panama Sea Frontier. Thus, he became the first admitted Hispanic of African descent to command a cutter, as well as the first one to be an officer-in-charge of a Coast Guard vessel during wartime. Samuels entered the Coast Guard as a seaman 2nd Class and reached the rank of lieutenant (as a part of the massive demobilization of the Coast Guard following the end of hostilities, his lieutenancy was revoked and he was dis-rated to chief photographer's mate). Samuels retired from the Coast Guard on September 1, 1947.
  Gunner's Mate Second Class Joseph Tezanos, a native of Santander, Spain, was aboard LST-20 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when an explosion on board one of the armada's LSTs set off a chain reaction. Tezanos along with a gang of several other hastily assembled volunteers scrambled on board a rescue boat. Tezanos and his shipmates rescued men from the water in danger of drowning and evacuated others from the burning ships. He was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for "distinguished heroism while serving as a volunteer member of a boat crew engaged in rescue operations during a fire in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, T.H. on 21 May 1944. Under conditions of great personal danger from fire and explosions and with disregard of his own safety he assisted in the rescuing of approximately 42 survivors some of whom were injured and exhausted from the water and from burning ships." Tezanos saw action at Kiska, Alaska; Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands; and Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Tezanos was sent to New London, Connecticut, at the Coast Guard Academy to take the four-month program, from which he graduated in 1945, becoming the first known Hispanic American to complete the service's Reserve Officer Training Program and one of the very first Hispanic American officers in the United States Coast Guard. After the war he built a successful career in the international business world.
  In December 1942, Lt. Juan del Castillo became the first Hispanic American to receive an officer's commission upon his graduation from the Officer's Candidate School. Del Castillo, who enlisted in June 1942, served on convoys in the Caribbean and on board cutters in the North Pacific. He also received training at the Naval Communications School at Harvard University. After he retired he worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and developed "CSM," a high-protein food substance us
caption: "Frying Pan" Lightship No. 115
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