HERSTORY: PUERTO RICAN WOMEN IN THE MILITARY Part II

“Make sure we do not forget the Latina presence in the service of the United States of America.”

Dr. Dolores Piñero: She was the first Puerto Rican woman doctor to serve in the Army under contract. Upon the outbreak of World War I, she applied for a contract surgeon position, only to be turned down. After writing a letter to the Army Surgeon General in Washington, D.C. explaining her intentions, she received a telegram ordering her to report to Camp Las Casas at Santurce, Puerto Rico. In October 1918, she signed her contract with the Army.

Rosa González: A noted registered nurse who authored “The Nurses Medical Dictionary.” The Swine Flu had swept through Army camps killing more than 55,000 American troops. After the flu epidemic ended, Piñero was ordered back to the Army base hospital at San Juan, Puerto Rico.

PFC Carmen García Rosado: In 2006, she authored and published a book titled Las WACS: Participacion de la Mujer Boricua en la Segunda Guerra Mundial (The WACs: Participation of Puerto Rican Women in the Second World War).  According to García Rosado, one of the principal hardships endured by Puerto Rican military women was racial discrimination, which is well documented in her book.

Second Lieutenant Carmen Lozano Dumler: Born 1924 in San Juan, Puerto Rico; was one of the first women to become a United States Army officer. In 1945, Lozano Dumler was assigned to the 359th Station Hospital of Ft. Read, where she attended wounded soldiers who had returned from Normandy, France.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Maria Rodriguez Denton: United States Navy, born June 14, 1909 in the town of Guanica, Puerto Rico, was the first woman who became an officer in the United States Navy as member of the WAVES. It was Lt. Denton who forwarded the news (through channels) to President Harry S. Truman that the war had ended.

Marie Teresa Rios: Puerto Rican writer who also served in World War II. She served as a pilot for the Civil Air Patrol. As a writer, she wrote for various newspapers and military publications.

CWO3 Rose Franco:  Born on January 22, 1934 in Guánica, Puerto Rico; she was first Puerto Rican/Latina woman to become a Chief Warrant Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. In 1965, Rose was named Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, Paul Henry Nitze, by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Captain Linda Garcia Cubero: She was the first Latina graduate of the Air Force Academy in 1980.

María V. Martínez: The first Puerto Rican woman promoted to Command Sergeant Major in the U.S. Army on December 1, 1998.