[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 102 (Monday, June 12, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E543]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMEMORATING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN LEGION DEPARTMENT 
                             OF PUERTO RICO

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. JENNIFFER GONZALEZ-COLON

                             of puerto rico

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 12, 2023

  Mrs. GONZALEZ-COLON. Mr. Speaker, please join me in recognizing the 
American Legion Department of Puerto Rico as it commemorates its 100th 
Anniversary.
  Established on September 19, 1923, the American Legion Department of 
Puerto Rico was born in a time of great economic, political, and social 
transformation. This organization had its genesis in the seed of 
military service of Puerto Ricans in the armed forces of our great 
Nation that was planted on March 28, 1899. On that day, eight Puerto 
Ricans from the town of Lares were the first to enter the United States 
Army in the detachment of Puerto Rican Volunteers that eventually 
became the 65th Infantry Regiment, our beloved Borinqueneers. Their 
oath of military service was the precursor of a long chain of Puerto 
Ricans who followed in their footsteps serving in our Nation's armed 
forces.
  That seed grew and the strong tree of military service that took root 
gave its first flowering in 1917 when 60,000 Puerto Ricans responded to 
the Nation's call during World War I. From them, aroused the veterans 
that founded the American Legion Department of Puerto Rico.
  Those World War I veterans and Legionnaires, took the task of 
ensuring that the Veterans of World War II, and subsequent conflicts, 
had upon their reintegration into the society the maximum support of a 
grateful Nation. Against all odds, the American Legion Department of 
Puerto Rico assumed the role of leading many fights in favor of 
veterans at the national and state level.
  They promoted the creation of the Veterans Hospital which, today is 
the Veteran Administration Caribbean Health Care System. They laid the 
foundations to create the Puerto Rico's Veteran's Bill of Rights and 
did not give up in their effort to include the Puerto Rican Veteran in 
all the programs and benefits that were granted to their peers in the 
states.
  The post World War II transformation that our Nation faced 
transformed the American Legion in Puerto Rico, not only due to the 
increase in veterans who returned and entered their posts, but also due 
to the entry of women legionaries into the organization.
  On April 1945, once discharged from military service in the Women's 
Auxiliary Army Corps, soldiers Priscila Colon and Aida Martinez Rellova 
became the first female veterans to join the American Legion Post 
Number 1 in San Juan. Vega Alta Post Number 52 elected veteran Dolores 
Vazquez as their commander in May 1952. They and many other female 
Legionnaires laid the foundations that enabled the American Legion, 
Department of Puerto Rico to have veteran Carmen I. Rosario Diaz as its 
first female Commander.
  The torch of veterans' rights has never failed to shine in Puerto 
Rico thanks to the willingness of veterans of the Korean, Vietnam, 
Persian Gulf and many other conflicts who assumed the responsibility of 
leading the American Legion Department of Puerto Rico and relentlessly 
advocated for veterans.
  As new generations of Legionaries rise to lead the American Legion 
Department of Puerto Rico, I encourage them to draw inspiration from 
the last 100 years of selfless service by the American Legion 
Department of Puerto Rico.

                          ____________________