Borinqueneers Will Be Recognized At Worcester Ceremony

WORCESTER, MA — In August 1950, a regiment of Puerto Rican U.S. Army soldiers landed on the Korean Peninsula — what be the beginning of several months of intense fighting that solidified "the Borinqueneers" in military lore.

More than 70 years later, the soldiers of the 65th Infantry Regiment — who also fought in World War I and World War II — are finally being recognized. In January, Congress passed a defense bill that included a provision designating April 13 as Borinqueneers Day.

Worcester, with one of the largest Puerto Rican populations in the U.S., will recognize the soldiers in a standalone ceremony. Local officials and residents will gather downtown Tuesday for speeches and a performance of the Puerto Rican anthem "La Borinqueña."

The Borinqueneers have been likened to the all-Black Tuskegee Airmen and the World War II Navajo Code Talkers — racially segregated military units that helped win wars. The Borinqueneers as a group earned a Congressional Gold Medal on April 13, 2016. Over 700 members of the unit died in combat up until it was disbanded in 1959, and only about 1,000 were still alive as recently as 2016, according to the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College.

Worcester's Borinqueneers Day event begins at 4:30 p.m. on April 13 at City Hall, 455 Main St.

Related: Worcester Council Backs Puerto Rico Independence Effort