Col. Manuel Siverio, right, and Sgt. Maj. Jose Colon, members of the Army’s 65th Infantry Borinquereers, received the Congressional Gold Medal from Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, left, during a ceremony in Emancipation Hall of the Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C, on April 13, 2016. Photo credit: Shawn Thew, EPA
Finally, an Army regiment made up of Puerto Rican soldiers received its long-deserved recognition on Wednesday.
The 65th Infantry Regiment – which is known by the nickname “Borinqueneers” and fought and served in World War I, World War II and the Korean conflict – was honored at a ceremony at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., where their Congressional Gold Medal was unveiled.
“Today we’re setting the record straight for the Borinqueneers,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, one of many prominent political leaders who attended the ceremony.
The honor came more than 50 years after the unit was disbanded.
The medal joins a litany of other distinctions for the soldiers, who individually boast one Medal of Honor, nine Distinguished Service Crosses, approximately 250 Silver Stars, more than 600 Bronze Stars and some 2,700 Purple Hearts.
“We are honored to receive this award after so much struggle,” Raul E. Reyes Castaneira told Fox News Latino. “We reached our goal, and we are being recognized that we support this nation, and we support it with our blood – the blood we shed.”
The regiment is the latest segregated group to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the United States. The black Tuskegee Airmen and the Navajo Code Talkers received the award previously.
In signing a bipartisan bill in 2014 to award them the medal, President Barack Obama said it “honors military heroes from our history.”
Reyes Castaneira said it was a particularly…..
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