Congressional Gold Medal awarded tonight to deceased veterans of Army's Puerto Rican regiment

YOUNGSTOWN

Four Mahoning Valley veterans were posthumously honored Saturday night with the Congressional Gold Medal for service rendered more than 60 years ago.

The medals, approved by Congress and signed by the president, were awarded at the 13th annual Hispanic Veteran’s Appreciation Dinner, sponsored by the Organizacion Civica y Cultural Hispana Americana at OCCHA’s social hall on Shirley Road.

The recipients were the late U.S. Army Cpl. Andres Romero-Castillo, the late Pvt. Candido Torres-Morales, the late Pfc. Rodolfo Rivera and the late Pfc. Porfirio Gonzalez-Rentas. All four served with the Army’s 65th Infantry Regiment, a Puerto Rican regiment known as the “Borinqueneers.”

The regiment, which fought in several conflicts including WWI, WWII and most notably, the Korean War, was nationally presented with a medal on April 13, 2016, in a ceremony in Washington D.C.

Presenting the medals Saturday night to the soldiers’ families was Maj. Gen. John C. Harris Jr., assistant adjutant general to the Ohio National Guard.

Read more about the honor and the event, read Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.