Luis R. Esteves

Puerto Rican-born military leader

• Born: April 30, 1893
• Birthplace: Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
• Died: March 12, 1958
• Place of death: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Known as the founder of the Puerto Rico National Guard, Esteves used his experience in World War I to efficiently organize his fellow Puerto Ricans into a well-trained unit that served in World War II, the Korean War, and other missions throughout the world.

Early Life

Luis Raul Esteves Völckers (eh-STEH-vehs) was the sixth child of eight born to Francisco Esteves Soriano and Enedina Völckers Van der Dijs in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Esteves’s interest in the military was a family tradition, as his father had previously served in the Spanish military.

As a boy, Esteves attended school in Aguadilla and Mayagüez, entering the United States Military Academy at West Point after his high school graduation. At West Point, he became the first Puerto Rican to graduate from the well-regarded military academy. Esteves graduated in June, 1915, while Europe was embroiled in World War I and the United States unsuccessfully sought to maintain neutrality. Esteves’s graduating class of 164 students became known as the “Class of Generals” because more than 50 of his peers earned that rank. Esteves was the first of his classmates to achieve the rank of general and was followed by four-star generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar Bradley, among others. While at West Point, Esteves befriended future president Eisenhower, forging a friendship that lasted for decades and helped give Puerto Ricans a voice in the military hierarchy during World War II.

On May 19, 1917, Esteves married Guadalupe Navarro in El Paso, Texas. The couple had four sons and one daughter between 1918 and 1930, and the family primarily lived in Puerto Rico.

Life’s Work

Esteves devoted most of his adult life serving his country and creating new ways to help other Puerto Ricans. His military career began with his assignment to the Twenty-third Infantry as a second lieutenant under General John J. Pershing, whose objective was to contain Pancho Villa on the United States-Mexico border. Villa, later immortalized in American and Mexican popular culture, reacted to the United States’ support of his political opponent by attacking towns on the American side of the border. During Esteves’s service in Texas, Pershing and Villa continued their series of violent skirmishes. While stationed in El Paso, Esteves used his proficiency in Spanish to act as a liaison between the two countries. He later served as mayor of Polvo, Mexico, for a brief period.

The tensions between Mexico and the United States soon were overshadowed by the escalation of World War I. Moving to Syracuse, New York, Esteves’s regiment splintered into the existing Twenty-third Infantry and the newly created Thirty-fourth Infantry. Esteves, by then a captain, became second in command of the Twenty-third Infantry. Many of these soldiers later served in the Panama Canal Zone.

Shortly before the United States entered the war in 1917, the U.S. government granted citizenship to Puerto Ricans; this declaration meant that Esteves finally was recognized as a citizen of the country he served. Esteves returned to Puerto Rico to oversee multiple officer training camps and was promoted to major.

After World War I ended, Esteves resigned his commission in the Army but continued to advance his career. Working with Puerto Rican and American government and military officials, Esteves organized the Puerto Rico National Guard, reshaping what was known as the “Porto Rico Regiment” into the Sixty-fifth Infantry. This special unit of the United States Army was the only one to be composed entirely of Hispanic soldiers. The Sixty-fifth Infantry was nicknamed “the Borinqueneers,” a term that alluded to Puerto Rico’s moniker of “the land of the brave lord,” and later earned the respect of General Douglas MacArthur.

In 1937, Esteves became adjutant general of Puerto Rico, a post to which he would later return and from which he retired after the end of World War II. After returning to active status in the Army, Esteves was posted in North Africa and Europe during World War II, ultimately fighting in central Europe.

After World War II ended, Esteves returned to the Puerto Rico National Guard, where he served as adjutant general until his retirement in 1957. Throughout his years of service, Esteves earned several medals, including the Legion of Merit, victory medals for World War I and World War II, and the National Defense Service Medal.

While Esteves concentrated on his military career, he also wrote several books, including one on dominoes and others about his Puerto Rican childhood. Reflecting on his military experience, he wrote about his life as a soldier and also penned training manuals for the Puerto Rico National Guard. Esteves died on March 12, 1958, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Significance

Esteves excelled in the United States military, using his innate and learned abilities to work within the hierarchy to create tangible ways for Puerto Ricans to demonstrate their capability while earning international respect for Puerto Rico by their service.

Bibliography

Esteves, Luis R. Notes on Combat Training for Infantry Officers. San Juan, P.R.: Bureau of Supplies, Printing and Transportation, 1942. Esteves explains the methods that he refined over decades of training officers for the Puerto Rico National Guard.

Fernandez, Virgil. “The Borinqueneers.” In Hispanic Military Heroes, edited by Virgil Fernandez. Austin, Tex.: VFJ, 2006. Describes the role of Esteves’s Sixty-fifth Infantry, the Borinqueneers, during the major wars of the twentieth century.

Welsome, Eileen. The General and the Jaguar: Pershing’s Hunt for Pancho Villa—A True Story of Revolution and Revenge. New York: Little, Brown, 2006. Recounts the tense skirmishes along the Mexican border between General Pershing and Pancho Villa during Esteves’s assignment in Texas under Pershing.