An 89-year-old “Borinqueneer”
veteran of the Korean War will return to the Asian peninsula for an event honoring his unit’s service during the conflict.
Juan Ramón Flores Ramos, 89, refers to himself in the third person when he talks about growing up in San Germán, Puerto Rico, and his time serving as a soldier in the 65th Infantry Regiment during the Korean War.
It’s not that he’s not proud of his accomplishments: Medals, trophies and framed certificates acknowledging his service as part of the “Borinqueneers,” the only Hispanic-segregated unit in U.S. Army history, hang on the walls of his home in east Orange County.
On Sunday, Flores Ramos will return to South Korea along with 17 other veterans — most of them Puerto Rican — for a week-long event to honor his service in the country’s conflict as part of the U.S.-sponsored program “Revisit Korea.”
The 65th Infantry Regiment was a troop of soldiers who served in several U.S. wars, including World War II and the Korean War — 743 were killed in combat and 2,318 more were injured. In April 2016, the group was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor that Congress can bestow.
“Many people say they remember the forests and the mountains,” Flores Ramos said. “I can only say I remember the need to survive, being in a hole, carrying a heavy machine gun, ready to shoot whoever stood before us.
“Having the chance to go back and see everything the way it is now, so different to the way we left it 67 years ago in the midst of chaos and war, it’s an experience I will take with me for the rest of my life,” he said, sitting next to his wife, Petrita, 75, on their livingroom couch. They have lived in Central Florida for 40 years.
Flores Ramos — who was just 22 when he left for the war — wrote an autobiography in which he recalled details of his childhood in San Germán, where he walked two hours to the closest middle school. And he revisited the events leading up to the bloody Battle of the Apple Orchard, also detailed in his book.
Although Flores Ramos — who also wrote a book of love poems and a romance novel based on his life — admits his time at war has hardened him, it did not take away his sensitive spirit.
“Through writing these words,” he said, “I’ve been able to liberate some of my saddest memories and recall the most beautiful ones.”
“Having the chance to go back and see everything the way it is now, so different to the way we left it 67 years ago in the midst of chaos and war, it’s an experience I will take with me for the rest of my life.” Juan Ramón Flores Ramos