Antulio Segarra Colonel Antulio Segarra ( January 20 , 1906 - September 14 , 1999 ) , was a United States Army officer who in 1943 became the first Puerto Rican in history to command a Regular Army Regiment . Segarra served as Military Aide to the Military Governor of Puerto Rico Theodore Roosevelt , Jr . and during World War II commanded the 65th Infantry Regiment . Early years . Segarra ( birth name : Antulio Segarra Guiot ) was born in Cayey , Puerto Rico where he received his primary and secondary education . His father was Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Segarra , a highly decorated World War I veteran . In 1923 , Segarra received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point from Horace Mann Towner ( 1855 – 1937 ) , who served as Governor of Puerto Rico from 1923 to 1929 . Military career . Segarra graduated from West Point in 1927 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the infantry . He was assigned as company commander of the 10th Infantry Regiment , at Fort Knox in Kentucky . The Regiment was later redesignated as the 5th Infantry Division and Segarra served until October 31 , 1929 , when the regiment was inactivated . He was then assigned as Military Aide to the Military Governor of Puerto Rico Theodore Roosevelt , Jr . ( 1887 – 1944 ) and served as such until 1931 . From 1931 to 1932 , Segarra served with the 18th Infantry at Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island , New York and with the Camp Dix Civilian Conservation Corps in Burlington County , New Jersey from 1932 to 1936 . He continued his military education in the Command and General Staff College ( C & GSC ) at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . Segarra graduated from the C & GSC in 1942 and was assigned to the 296th Infantry Regiment of the Puerto Rican National Guard . World War II . On November 25 , 1943 , Segarra succeeded Colonel John R . Mendenhall and assumed the command of Puerto Rico ' s 65th Infantry Regiment which at the time was conducting security missions in the jungles of Panama . Thus , Segarra became the first Puerto Rican Regular Army officer to command a Regular Army Regiment . On January 1944 , the Regiment was embarked for Jackson Barracks in New Orleans and later sent to Fort Eustis in Newport News , Virginia in preparation for overseas deployment to North Africa . After they arrived at Casablanca , they underwent further training . By April 29 , 1944 , the Regiment had landed in Italy and moved on to Corsica . On June 21 , 1944 , Segarra was succeeded by Col . Paul G . Daly in the command of the 65th Infantry Regiment . Post World War II . Segarra was assigned Camp Commander of Camp Stoneman in San Francisco , California . In 1950 , upon the outbreak of the Korean War , Segarra was reassigned and served as troop commander of the men assigned to the 24th Infantry Division who were aboard the USS General E . T . Collins headed for further training in Japan . Segarra served as Camp Commander at the G4 South West Command in Japan until 1951 . He returned to Puerto Rico and served as Senior Advisor and Instructor to the Puerto Rico National Guard from 1952 to 1955 . From 1955 to 1957 , he served in the capacity of Inspector General of the Third United States Army and in the Requirements Section of the National Guard Bureau in Washington , D . C . Later years . Segarra retired from the military in 1957 and as a civilian worked as Vice President for the 1st Federal Savings and Loan Association until 1981 when he retired . On September 14 , 1999 , Col . Antulio Segarra , died in San Juan , Puerto Rico and was survived by his wife , Evangelina Ledesma and two children Evangelinita and Antulio , Jr . He was buried September 16 , with full military honors in the Puerto Rico National Cemetery located in Bayamon , Puerto Rico . Awards and decorations . Among Segarra ' s military awards and decorations are the following : Badges :