Puerto Ricans Missing in Action in the Vietnam War

Puerto Ricans Missing in Action in the Vietnam War

There were 17 Puerto Ricans Missing in Action in the Vietnam War, from a total of 2,338 people that were listed as Missing in Action. This total does not include people of Puerto Rican descent born in the mainland of the United States. [cite web| url=http://www.veteranshour.com/vietnam_war_statistics.htm Vietnam War Statics| title=Vietnam War Statistics| publisher=Veteran News Hour Daily| accessdate=2007-09-10]

Puerto Rico was officially ceded to the United States from Spain under the terms of the 1898 Treaty of Paris which concluded the Spanish-American War. It is a United States territory and upon the outbreak of World War I, the U.S. Congress approved the Jones-Shafroth Act, which granted Puerto Ricans citizenship. As a result Puerto Ricans have participated in every major conflict involving the United States from World War I onward. [cite web| url=http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/jonesact.html| title= Jones-Shafroth Act| publisher= The Library of Congress| accessdate=2007-09-10]

Thousands of Puerto Ricans participated in these conflicts. Many lived and returned to their homeland, others were less fortunate and either died as a result of a hostile enemy action or were listed as MIA (Missing In Action). Missing In Action (abbreviated MIA) is a term (dating from 1946) referring to a member of the armed services who is reported missing following a combat mission and whose status as to injury, capture, or death is unknown. The missing combatant must not have been otherwise accounted for as either killed in action or a prisoner of war. [cite web| url=http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/MIA| title=Definition of MIA| publisher= Merriam-Webster Dictionary| accessdate=2007-09-10] The Vietnam War was one of two major conflicts (The other one was the Korean War) which accounted for the most Puerto Ricans missing in action. [cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20060109042356/http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2004/vol8n38/PRVideo0838-en.shtml| title=Puerto Rico's Proud Military History| publisher=The Puerto Rico Herald| archived=2006-01-09| accessdate=2007-09-10]

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, was a conflict between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN, or North Vietnam) and the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, or South Vietnam), which eventually involved their respective allies. In 1959, the United States sent military advisors to train the South Vietnamese Army. By 1965, there were 25,000 military advisors in South Vietnam.." [John Kenneth Galbraith. "Memorandum to President Kennedy from John Kenneth Galbraith on Vietnam, 4 April 1962." "The Pentagon Papers." Gravel. ed. Boston, Mass. Beacon Press, 1971, vol. 2. pp 669–671.] The United States participation in the war continued to escalate until April 30, 1975 when the United States officially declared the war over. During the Vietnam War, an estimated 48,000 Puerto Ricans served in the four branches of the armed forces. [ [http://veteransforpr.com/history.htm Military History] , Retrieved September 15, 2007] Of a total of 345 Puerto Ricans who died in combat, 17 were listed as MIA's. They were all members of the Army with the exception of First Lieutenant Jose Hector Ortiz who was the only Puerto Rican MIA member of the United States Air Force. Of the 17 Puerto Rican MIA's, PFC. Humberto Acosta-Rosario is the only one whose body has never been recovered and is currently still listed as Missing In Action. [cite web| url=http://members.aol.com/warlibrary/vwc3.htm | title=Vietnam War Casualties by US Geographic Division & Region| publisher=The American War Library| accessdate=2007-09-10] Friendly forces captured documents from the Vietnam People's Army 7th Infantry Division dated August 23, 1968. The documents were analyzed by US intelligence agencies. The reports documented that Humberto Acosta-Rosario was in fact captured by NVA forces during the battle near the Ben Cui Rubber Plantation. However, the US military chose not to upgrade his status to Prisoner of War.

Acosta-Rosario's name was listed in the USG's (United States Government) "Last Known Alive" list. This list was released by the U.S. Government on April 1991 and it contains the names of Prisoners of War and Missing in Action who were known to be alive in enemy hands and for whom there is no evidence that he or she died in captivity. [cite web| url=http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/a/a002.htm | title=Bio, Acosta-Rosario, Humberto| publisher=P.O.W. Network|accessdate=2007-09-10] In March 1978, Acosta-Rosario was declared dead/body not recovered based on a presumptive finding of death. PFC. Humberto Acosta-Rosario was posthumously promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant. His name is on panel 47W, line 030 of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. and he is also list in El Monumento de la Recordacion located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There is a headstone with his name inscribed Plot: MB 0 6 of Puerto Rican National Cemetery in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. [cite web| url=http://tanaya.net/cgi-bin/vmw.cgi?124| title= In Memory of SSgt. Humberto Acosta-Rosario| publisher=The Vietnam Memorial Wall| accessdate=2007-09-10]

Puerto Ricans Missing In Action

The following is a list with the names, ranks, date and place of birth and the date that the person was listed as MIA: [cite web| url=http://www.archives.gov/research/vietnam-war/casualty-lists/pr-alpha.html| publisher=The National Archives| title=U.S. Military Personnel Who Died (Including Missing and Captured Declared Dead) as a result of the Vietnam conflict, 1957-1995|accessdate=2007-09-10]

Their names are inscribed in both the Vietnam Veterans Memorial located in Washington, D.C. and in El Monumento de la Recordacion (The Wall of Remembrance) located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. [cite web| url=http://www.nps.gov/kwvm/| title= Korean War Veterans Memorial| publisher=National Park Service| accessdate=2007-09-10] [cite web| url=http://www.rootsweb.com/~prsanjua/mil-003.htm| title=Monumento de la Recordacion| publisher=Rootsweb.com| accessdate=2007-09-10]

ee also

*Military history of Puerto Rico
*Puerto Ricans Missing in Action in the Korean War

References


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