US honors Puerto Ricans who fought, died in segregated unit

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Angel Acevedo looked down at the Congressional Gold Medal in his hands as his eyes welled with tears during a ceremony today to honor Puerto Ricans like him who faced discrimination and waited decades to be recognized for fighting several wars under the last segregated unit in combat.

The 94-year-old Purple Heart recipient then pointed at a group of fellow veterans gathered in front of him at an imposing 16th-century fort from where the United States fired the first shots during World War I at a German ship leaving the U.S. territory. Acevedo praised the valor of his friends in the wars that followed.

"We were in combat 66 years ago and today history has arrived to recognize us," said Acevedo, who fought in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War as part of the 65th Infantry Regiment. "When I was wounded, those Borinqueneers saved my life."

The Borinqueneers were a Hispanic unit segregated from other soldiers as were the black Tuskegee Airmen and Navajo Code Talkers. But it was not until this year that Acevedo and others like him received the highest civilian award given by Congress.

"We are infinitely grateful to be recognized for what we went through and what we did," said Acevedo, who spent eight months in a hospital in Hawaii after a mine exploded near his Jeep in Korea with such force that it threw him into a rice paddy.