During World War II, the all Puerto Rican 65th Infantry Regiment had been broken up with its three battalions relegated to backwater assignments where combat was unlikely. Still smarting from this slight, the 65th regained a measure of respect when it soundly defeated the veteran 3d Infantry Division during postwar maneuvers.This victory was a harbinger of the future. The 65th proved resolute in combat during the Korean War, first as it battled its way north from the Pusan Perimeter and later as it defended the strategic port of Hungnam in the face of seemingly overwhelming Chinese attacks, providing a safe harbor for the retreat of X Corps from the Chosin Resevoir.

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting for an engaging read aloud experience! Honor and Fidelity. That is the motto of the 65th Infantry Regiment, also known as the Borinqueneers, the only Puerto Rican unit in the United States Army. Since the regiment’s creation in 1899, the men of the 65th have proudly served the US through multiple wars, despite facing racial discrimination. Their courage, loyalty, and patriotism earned them hundreds of accolades, including the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014. But the honor and fidelity of the men of the 65th came into question in 1952, in the midst of the Korean War, when ninety-one Borinqueneers were arrested and tried for desertion and disobeying orders. How could this happen in one of the most distinguished and decorated units of the Army? In this telling of one of the forgotten stories of the Korean War, author Talia Aikens-Nuñez guides us through the history of the Borinqueneers and the challenges they faced leading up to what was the largest court martial in the entire war. Rediscover the bravery of the men of the 65th through Aikens-Nuñez’s thorough writing and the soldiers’ firsthand accounts of the Korean War.

Many Puerto Rican were classified by their superiors as inferior in the 65th Infantry in Korea, but they proved themselves in the battlefied as courageous soldiers because of their pride in the United states of America and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This book salutes the brave men of the 65th Infantry and the resiliency of the Korean people amid the destruction of their country and the suffering of their people.

Formed at the turn of the nineteenth century to protect America's strategic interests in the Caribbean, the 65th Infantry consisted of Puerto Rican soldiers and sergeants and American and Puerto Rican officers. Although in existence for almost fifty years, the 65th had not experienced intense combat until Korea. Despite a lack of previous wartime experience, the regiment did extremely well from September 1950 to August 1951, establishing a solid reputation as a dependable infantry unit. The combat performance of the unit began to slip from the summer of 1951 to the autumn of 1952, when major failures occurred, first at Outpost Kelly in late September and then at Jackson Heights a month later. After the failures at Outpost Kelly and Jackson Heights, the Army recognized that these problems had to be decisively addressed or the regiment's combat effectiveness would be permanently degraded. The Army reconstituted the 65th as a fully integrated infantry regiment in the spring of 1953. By that June, the regiment had redeemed itself in the eyes of the Army's senior leadership. The unit's colors remained in Korea until November 1954, when they returned to Puerto Rico.