Borinqueneers remembered for bravery and service in Springfield (2025)

SPRINGFIELD — Friday, members of the Puerto Rican community and city dignitaries gathered on the steps of City Hall to remember the 65th Infantry Regiment, a National Guard unit that was organized in Puerto Rico and served in three wars as American citizens.

The ceremony came ahead of National Borinqueneers Day, which Congress in 2021 designated as April 13. The regiment also received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2016.

“The 65th Infantry was an all-Puerto Rican regiment out of the National Guard in Puerto Rico,” Gumersindo Gomez, executive director of the Bilingual Veterans Outreach Centers of Massachusetts, said Friday at a ceremony to raise the unit flag and Puerto Rico’s flag over Court Square.

“We received our citizenship as Americans in 1917 through the Jones Act,” Gomez said. “It is my belief that the only reason we received that citizenship was so we could be drafted into the United States Army and be sent to Europe and fight in World War I.”

Gomez said more than 100,000 Borinqueneers were drafted, with 14,000 serving in the trenches of France. Still more provided protective service to the Panama Canal.

The regiment’s most storied action occurred during the Korean War. Eighty-five years ago, a group of men, mostly Spanish speakers, landed in Busan, South Korea. The Borinqueneers, clothed only in tropical-weight uniforms, fought through five months of temperatures of -30 to -40-degree temperatures helping to evacuate the Marines escaping overwhelming Chinese forces around the Chosin Reservoir.

Gomez said one member of The Borinqueneers who lived in Springfield, Victor Rosario, died in February. He was 101 years old.

Rosario’s daughter, Maria Acuna, praised her father and all Puerto Ricans who sacrificed both overseas and at home.

“My father was a brave, strong young man, my mother even braver and stronger, to stand and fight for a country that doesn’t recognize you and to go with a small regiment from a small island takes guts and strength and power you didn’t know was capable,” she said. “This day is an honor and a day of mourning for not only my father, Victor Rosario and his brave actions, but for my mother, Lydia Rosario, who stood by his side through it all.”

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno was unable to attend the ceremony but extended his congratulations to the city’s Puerto Rican community. He issued a proclamation celebrating the fifth annual Borinqueneers Day, and specifically, “the life and legacy of Victor Rosario who was one of our brave soldiers who participated in the service, sacrifice and valor of our Puerto Rican community members who have long been part of our country’s military history.”

Sarno said the last Borinqueneer living in Springfield is 101-year-old Antonio Morales.

“National Borinqueneers Day pays tribute to the bravery, service, sacrifice and adversities that our honorable Puerto Rican and Hispanic soldiers overcame while serving our country and beyond,” Sarno said. “Today, we are proud to recognize and honor the brave and dedicated members of the 65th Infantry Regiment. Their contributions to our nation’s history is significant and well deserving of this honor and recognition.”