[2] When an Imperial Japanese Navy carrier fleet launched an unexpected attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Puerto Ricans were required to bear arms in defense of the United States.

Llopis, who was born in San Juan, was named Chief of Staff of the Spanish Army of Africa, after his victories in the Rif War, took the Balearic Islands and by order of Franco, suppressed the rebellion of Asturias.

There weren't any Puerto Rican military related fatalities when the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacked Pearl Harbor.

His name is listed among the 2,338 Americans killed or mortally wounded on December 7, 1941, in the Remembrance Exhibit in the back lawn of the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center at Pearl Harbor.

[14] After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the U.S. into the war, the Puerto Ricans living on the island and on the U.S. mainland began to fill the ranks of the four major branches of the Armed Forces.

[16] The 31st Infantry covered the withdrawal of American and Philippine forces to the Bataan Peninsula and fought for four months, despite the fact that no help could come in from the outside after much of the United States Pacific Fleet was destroyed at Pearl Harbor and mid-ocean bases at Guam and Wake Island were lost.

The use of these infantry units was put on hold because Martinique's local government decided to turn over control of the colonies to the French Committee of National Liberation.

[5] Among those who served with the 295th Regiment in the Panama Canal Zone was a young Second Lieutenant by the name of Carlos Betances Ramírez, who would later become the only Puerto Rican to command a Battalion in the Korean War.

[22] In January 1944, the 65th Infantry embarked for Jackson Barracks in New Orleans and later to Fort Eustis in Newport News, Virginia, in preparation for overseas deployment to North Africa.

[26] There were 47 battle casualties, including Private Sergio Sanchez-Sanchez and Sergeant Angel Martinez from the town of Sabana Grande, who became the first two Puerto Ricans to be killed in combat action from the 65th Infantry as a result of a German assault on Company "L".

PFC Fernando Pagan was also a Puerto Rican who resided on the mainland; he was assigned to unit Company A, 293 Combat Engineering Battalion, which arrived in Normandy on June 10.

[31] One Puerto Rican who earned a Bronze Star in the Battle of the Bulge was PFC Joseph A. Unanue, whose father was the founder of Goya Foods.

[37] During World War II, the following squadrons were assigned to the airfield: In 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered the construction of a naval base in the Atlantic similar to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is the second highest military decoration of the United States Army, awarded for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force.

PFC Joseph (José) R. Martínez born in San Germán, Puerto Rico destroyed a German Infantry unit and tank in Tunis by providing heavy artillery fire, saving his platoon from being attacked in the process.

[47] By the end of the war, the Tuskegee Airmen were credited with 112 Luftwaffe aircraft shot down, a patrol boat run aground by machine-gun fire, and destruction of numerous fuel dumps, trucks and trains.

This was the case of then-Captains Mihiel "Mike" Gilormini and Alberto A. Nido, Lieutenants José Antonio Muñiz and César Luis González and airman T/Sgt.

His unit was awarded a "DUC" for carrying out this second mission in spite of bad weather and heavy attack by enemy ground and naval forces.

[56] Among them was PFC Carmen García Rosado, who in 2006, authored and published a book titled "LAS WACS-Participacion de la Mujer Boricua en la Segunda Guerra Mundial" (The WACs-The participation of the Puerto Rican women in the Second World War), the first book to document the experiences of the first 200 Puerto Rican women who participated in said conflict.

[58][59] Another was Lieutenant Junior Grade Maria Rodriguez Denton, the first woman from Puerto Rico who became an officer in the United States Navy as member of the WAVES.

Sylvia Rexach, dropped-out of the University of Puerto Rico in 1942 and joined the United States Army as a member of the WACS where she served as an office clerk.

Humbert Roque Versace and author of The Fifteenth Pelican which was the basis for the popular 1960s television sitcom "The Flying Nun", drove Army trucks and buses.

Rios Versace wrote and edited for various newspapers around the world, including places such as Guam, Germany, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, and publications such the Armed Forces Star & Stripes and Gannett.

[65] They were: Lieutenant General Pedro Augusto del Valle, USMC, the first Hispanic to reach the rank of General in the Marine Corps; Rear Admiral Frederick Lois Riefkohl, USN, the first Puerto Rican to graduate from the Naval Academy and recipient of the Navy Cross; Rear Admiral Jose M. Cabanillas, USN, who was the Executive Officer of USS Texas which participated in the invasions of North Africa and Normandy (D-Day); Rear Admiral Edmund Ernest Garcia, USN, commander of the destroyer USS Sloat who saw action in the invasions of Africa, Sicily, and France; Admiral Horacio Rivero Jr., USN, who was the first Hispanic to become a four-star Admiral; Captain Marion Frederic Ramirez de Arellano, USN, the first Hispanic submarine commander, who commanded USS Balao and is credited with sinking two Japanese ships; Rear Admiral Rafael Celestino Benítez, USN, a highly decorated submarine commander who was the recipient of two Silver Star Medals; Colonel Virgilio N. Cordero Jr., USA, recipient of three Silver Star Medals and a Bronze Star Medal, Battalion Commander of the 31st Infantry Regiment on December 8, 1941, when Japanese planes attacked the U.S. military installations in the Philippines.

[79] In an interview, PFC Raul Rios Rodriguez said that during his basic training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he had encountered a strict drill instructor who was particularly harsh on the Hispanic and black soldiers in his unit.

"[81] According to Carmen García Rosado, one of the hardships which Puerto Rican women in the military were subject to was the social and racial discrimination which at the time was rampant in the United States against the Latino community.

On Panama's San Jose Island, Puerto Rican soldiers were exposed to mustard gas to see if they reacted differently than their "white" counterparts.

[83] According to Susan L. Smith of the University of Alberta, the researchers were searching for evidence of race-based differences in the responses of the human body to mustard gas exposure.

Arriving at Puerto Rico on November 9, 1945, they were received by the local population as national heroes and given a victorious reception at the Military Terminal of Camp Buchanan.

However, the total number of Puerto Ricans who served in World War II in other units cannot be determined because the military categorized Hispanics along with whites.