Congress To Award Highest Honor To Army's Only Latino Unit : Code Switch : NPR: Congress passed a bill on Thursday to honor the U.S. Army's only segregated Latino unit with the Congressional Gold Medal. If the bill is signed into law by President Obama, the 65th Infantry Regiment of Puerto Rico, also known as the Borinqueneers, will join Puerto Rican baseball star Roberto Clemente as the only Hispanics to be awarded the highest civilian honor given by Congress.
Named after Borinquen, the TaIno name for the island of Puerto Rico, the Borinqueneers follow a number of other segregated military units that have received the medal, including the Navajo Code Talkers, Tuskegee Airmen, Montford Point Marines and Japanese-American soldiers of World War II.
