List of Hispanic Medal of Honor recipients

This is a list of soldiers, sailors and Marines of Hispanic descent who were awarded the United States highest military decoration the Medal of Honor. Sometimes referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Medal of Honor is bestowed "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty, in actual combat against an armed enemy force." The medal is awarded by the President of the United States on behalf of the Congress. Due to the nature of this medal, it is commonly presented posthumously. [http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/pis/med_of_honor.html Defense link Medal of Honor history] ,Retrieved July 29, 2008] Forty-three (43) men of Hispanic heritage have been awarded the Medal of Honor, the first recipiant was Corporal Joseph H. De Castro of the Union Army for his actions at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 3, 1863, during the American Civil War and the most recent recipiant was Specialist Fourth Class Alfred V. Rascon who was presented with his Medal of Honor on February 8, 2000 by President Bill Clinton for his actions on March 16 1966 during the Vietnam War.

Of the forty-three Medals of Honor presented to Hispanics, two (2) were presented to members of the United States Navy, thirteen (13) to members of the United States Marine Corps and twenty-eight (28) to members of the United States Army, twenty-five (25) Medals of Honor were presented posthumously. Corporal Joseph H. De Castro was a member of the Massachusetts Infantry, a militia which was not part of the "regular" Army, however Private David Bennes Barkley was a member of the regular Army during World War I and has been recognized as the Army's first Hispanic Medal of Honor. [ [http://www.neta.com/~1stbooks/m-b.htm Medal of Honor Recipient of Hispanic Heritage] ,Retrieved July 29, 2008] Seaman John Ortega, in 1864, was the first Hispanic member of the U.S. Navy Medal of Honor recipient and in 1900, Private France Silva became the first member of the U.S. Marine Corps of Hispanic descent recipiant of the medal. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20070326/ai_n18755799 Local hero no longer forgotten] ,Retrieved July 29, 2008]

Ten recipiants were born outside of the United States mainland, one in both Chile and Spain, four in Mexico and four in Puerto Rico. Seaman Philip Bazaar from Chile became a recipiant in January 1865 and Seaman John Ortega from Spain in December 1865. The first Mexican native recipiant was Staff Sergeant Marcario Garcia and the first Puerto Rican was PFC Fernando Luis Garcia. [ [http://www.elboricua.com/MedalHonor.html El Boricua] ,Retrieved July 29, 2008] 1st Lt. Rudolph B. Davila, of Hispanic-Filipino descent was the only person of Filipino ancestry to receive the medal for his actions in the war in Europe during World War II and Private Joe P. Martinez was the first Hispanic-American recipient who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for combat heroism on American soil during the same conflict. [ [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=45241 defense Link] ,Retrieved July 29, 2008] [ [http://www.cmohs.org/medal/medal_history.htm CMoH Society] ,Retrieved July 29, 2008] 1st Lt. Baldomero Lopez, is the only Hispanic graduate of the United States Naval Academy recipiant of the Medal of Honor [ [http://www.ansomil.org/node/250 ANSO] ,Retrieved July 29, 2008] and Captian Humbert Roque Versace was the recipiant of the first Medal of Honor to be given to an Army POW for his actions during captivity in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. [ [http://www.mishalov.com/Versace.html Versace MoH Citation] ,Retrieved July 29, 2008]

Terminology

Hispanic is an ethnic term employed to categorize any citizen or resident of the United States, of any racial background, of any country, and of any religion, who has at least one ancestor from the people of Spain or is of non-Hispanic origin, but has an ancestor from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central or South America, or some other Hispanic origin. The three largest Hispanic groups in the United States are the Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans.cite web
accessdate=2007-12-28
url=http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hispanic/hispdef.html
title=Hispanic Population of the United States: Current Population - Survey Definition and Background
publisher=Ethnic & Hispanic Statistics Branch, Population Division,United States Census Bureau,
date=November 2, 2000]

List of recipients

The following table is divided into six sections, one for each of the conflicts in which Hispanics have been awarded the Medal of Honor. The sections are placed in the chronological in which the conflicts occurred. The surnames of the Hispanics who were awarded the Medal of Honor are placed in each section in alphabetical order. Note:legend2|#e3d9ff|This along with the *, indicates that the Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously|border=1px solid #AAAAAA

ee also

*List of Medal of Honor recipients
*Puerto Rican recipients of the Medal of Honor

References

*cite web
accessdate=2008-07-24
url=http://www.tecom.usmc.mil/HD/Whos_Who.htm
title=Who's Who list of Marines
work=Who's Who in Marine Corps History
publisher=History Division, United States Marine Corps
*cite web
accessdate=2008-07-24
url = http://www.army.mil/cmh/moh.html
title = U.S. Army Center of Military History Medal of Honor Citations Archive
work = Listing of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen who received the Medal of Honor during World War II
publisher Army Medal of Honor website
date = July 16, 2007

*cite web
url=http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/topics/hisp/Hisp-MOH.htm
title=U.S. Army Hispanic Medal of Honor Recipients
publisher=U.S. Army Center of Military History, United States Army
accessdate=2006-07-12

*cite web
url=http://www.neta.com/~1stbooks/medal2.htm
title=Hispanic American Medal of Honor Recipients USA
work=Contributions of American Hispanics/Latinos Heritage and Ancestry to the United States of America |publisher= Hispanic America USA
accessdate=2006-07-12

External links

* [http://www.obregoncmh.org/indexHome.html Eugene A. Obregon Congressional Medal of Honor Memorial Foundation] , dedicated to financing and constructing a monument to honor the Congressional Medal of Honor recipients of Latino descent.

*cite web|url=http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/stories/MYSA052906.2O.landa.2365584.html
author=Landa, Victor
title= List of Latino patriots grows longer
date=2006-05-29
work=San Antonio Express-News
accessdate=2006-07-12}

*cite web |url=http://www.goarmy.com/hhm/moh_wwii.jsp |accessdate=2006-12-24
title=Medal of Honor Recipients
work=Celebrating Hispanic Heritage
publisher=GoArmy.com, U.S. Army

*cite web
url=http://www.historychannel.com/classroom/admin/study_guide/archives/thc_guide.2007.html
title=Hispanics and the Medal of Honor
work=History Channel Classroom Study Guide
publisher=The History Channel
accessdate=2006-07-16. (Original air date: September 20, 2005)

*cite web|url=http://www.utexas.edu/opa/pubs/discovery/disc1997v14n2/disc-above.html
title=Above and Beyond
work=UT Discovery Magazine
date=August 22, 1997
author=Ricardo Romo
accessdate=2006-11-21