Hispanic Americans in World War II fought in every major battle in the
European Theatre, from North Africa to the Battle of the Bulge, and in
the Pacific Theater of Operations, from Bataan to Okinawa. According to
the National World War II Museum, between 250,000 and 500,000 Hispanic
Americans served in the Armed Forces during WWII, out of a total of
10,420,000, comprising 2.3% to 4.7% of the Armed Forces. Not only did
Hispanics serve as active combatants in the European and Pacific
Theatres of war, but they also served on the home front as civilians.
Hundreds of Hispanic women joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and
Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, serving as nurses and
in administrative positions. When the induction into the armed forces
was increased some Puerto Ricans from the island were assigned to units
in the Panama Canal Zone and British Caribbean islands which were made
up mostly of continental (United States mainland) soldiers as
replacements, however most Puerto Ricans and Hispanics residing in
Puerto Rico were assigned to the 65th Infantry Regiment or to the
Puerto Rico National Guard. These were the only all-Hispanic units
whose statistics were kept; hence, it is known that over 53,000 Puerto
Ricans and Hispanics who resided on the island served in the war.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_Americans_in_World_War_II>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
993:
Pope John XV became the first pope to canonize a saint, Ulrich of
Augsburg.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrich_of_Augsburg>
1754:
French and Indian War: In the aftermath of losing the Battle of Fort
Necessity near present-day Farmington, Pennsylvania, George Washington
accepted the terms of what would become his only military surrender and
peacefully withdrew his forces.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Necessity>
1862:
In a rowing boat travelling on the River Thames from Oxford to Godstow,
author Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell and her sisters a story that
would eventually form the basis for his book Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll>
1941:
German AB-Aktion operation in Poland: After capturing Lwów, the Nazis
executed approximately 45 professors of the University of Lwów.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_Lviv_professors>
1976:
Israel Defense Forces raided Uganda's Entebbe International Airport to
free hostages taken by hijackers on Air France Flight 139.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe>
2005:
The NASA space probe Deep Impact impacted the nucleus of the comet
Tempel 1 , excavating debris from its interior to study its
composition.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Impact_%28space_mission%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
inalienable (adj):
Incapable of being alienated, surrendered, or transferred to another
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inalienable>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Happiness in this world, when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the
object of pursuit, and it leads us a wild-goose chase, and is never
attained. Follow some other object, and very possibly we may find that
we have caught happiness without dreaming of it.
--Nathaniel Hawthorne
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Hawthorne>
Show replies by date