Since Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory in 1898 after the Spanish-American War, its people have played a role in the U.S. armed forces, beginning with the formation of the Battalion of Porto Rican Volunteers in 1899. At least 18,000 Puerto Ricans served during World War I and even more in World War II, but they were generally dismissed and relegated to auxiliary roles.
That began to change when President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981 in 1948, mandating equal treatment and opportunity for military personnel regardless of race, color or creed, but it was during the Korean War that a Puerto Rican Marine’s actions highlighted the contributions of Puerto Rican service members.
Fernando Luis Garcia Ledesma was born in Utuado on Oct. 14, 1929. After attending primary and secondary school in San Juan, he worked as a filing clerk for the Texas Company in San Juan when he was inducted into the Marine Corps on Sept. 19, 1951. After training on Parris Island, South Carolina, in December 1951 and Camp Pendleton, California, in March 1952, he was assigned to Company I, 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division (Reinforced) in Korea.
By the time Garcia reached the combat zone, the most strategically significant campaigns were past. From then until July 1953, the warring sides negotiated for an armistice at Panmunjom while their military forces launched a seemingly endless succession of operations against one another along the contested demilitarized zone. The stakes of these struggles were usually over hilltops of strategically limited value, but they added up to greater casualties than either side had suffered throughout the earlier, more decisive battles.
One such contested patch of real estate that the 5th Marines were ordered to dig and hold in the summer of 1952 was some high ground north of Seoul designated by its meterage as Hill 122, but known to the Marines as Bunker Hill. Facing them were elements of the 63rd and 65th armies of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army.
On Aug. 9, 1952, Chinese troops launched the first of numerous attempts to seize Bunker Hill. A month later, the Marines were still holding, but Chinese forces were not through trying. In the early morning hours of Sept. 5, they advanced on Outpost Bruce.
Among Bruce’s defenders were Garcia and his acting platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt. Floyd V. Wiley, who endured an hour of bombardment before enemy forces moved up. Wiley provided the information for what appeared on Garcia’s Medal of Honor citation:
“While participating in the defense of a combat outpost, located more than one mile forward of the main line of resistance during a savage night attack by a fanatical enemy force employing grenades, mortars and artillery Pfc. Garcia, although suffering painful wounds, moved through the intense hail of hostile fire to supply more grenades.”
Just as Wiley and Garcia were bringing up a new supply, an enemy grenade landed in their position. The last thing Wiley heard was Garcia saying: “I’ll get it.”
“Quick to react when a hostile grenade landed nearby,” the citation stated, “he unhesitatingly chose to sacrifice himself and immediately threw his body over the deadly missile, receiving the full impact of the explosion.”
Wiley was wounded and unconscious for some time, but thanks to Garcia’s actions, he got out alive when enemy forces overran Outpost Bruce.
Two other service members were also cited for the Medal of Honor during the fight: Pfc. Alford L. McLaughlin, who killed about 150 enemy troops, and Hospitalman 3rd Class Edward C. Benfold, who jumped on an enemy grenade when tending wounded troops, killing himself but saving his patients.
Fighting at Outpost Bruce continued for 51 hours until sunrise on Sept. 7, when Chinese forces finally broke off contact. Nineteen of its defenders were dead and 38 were wounded. The struggle for Bunker Hill continued until Sept. 30, when both sides, exhausted as much by rain and mud as by mutual combat attrition, stood down. By then, the Marines had retaken Outpost Bruce and Bunker Hill itself, at a total cost of 96 dead. United Nations forces estimated PVA losses at about 400 killed and 3,900 wounded.
After retaking Outpost Bruce, Wiley’s platoon searched for Garcia, but found no sign of him. On Oct. 25, 1953, however, his parents were called to Utuado City Hall to receive his posthumous Medal of Honor — the first awarded to a Puerto Rican serviceman and the only one, as of this writing, awarded to a Puerto Rican Marine.
Moreover, as a result of its precedent, the U.S. Army turned its sights to World War II to reconsider past acts of valor for which Puerto Rican troops had “settled for second best” with the Distinguished Service Cross, but for which they deserved the Medal of Honor. Nine Puerto Rican service members now bear that honor.
Although his body was never found, Fernando Garcia has an “In Memory” marker in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. An Army camp at Vieques has been named for him, as has the destroyer escort-turned frigate Garcia.
