OBITUARY: Highly Decorated Master Sergeant Arcadio Santiago Rodríguez, 101, of Palm Bay, Passed Away Peacefully July 11

Served Brevard Public Schools as a bus driver for 20 years, was member of Puerto Rican Veterans Hall of Fame

BREVARD COUNTY • PALM BAY, FLORIDA – Master Sergeant Arcadio Santiago Rodríguez, 101, of Palm Bay, Florida, went peacefully into his Father’s arms on July 11, 2025.

Arcadio was born in Cidra, Puerto Rico, on December 15, 1923, to Arcadio Santiago and Elisa Rodriguez. He was a proud Jibarito who enjoyed the beauty and nature of his native land with such intensity that he brought the skills of growing trees to Palm Bay, often sharing with neighbors seedlings, avocados, mangoes, papayas, and oranges from his yard.

Arcadio was drafted in 1944 and later actively participated in combat during World War II. He served in the U.S. Army for 30 years.

During his impeccable military career, he received many recognitions. Among those was a Silver Star Medal for outstanding acts of valor under enemy fire in Hongbok, Korea, in 1951. Later, during the Vietnam War, he received another Silver Star Medal for his bravery during combat.

The U.S. Army’s Silver Star Citation reads as follows:

On 27 April 1951 near Hingbok, Korea, while approaching through a pass, 4 reinforced enemy battalion was fired on by the 3rd platoon, Company K, which had taken a blocking position astride the pass. When his squad leader was morally wounded, Private Santiago-Rodriguez voluntarily assumed command of the squad.

• Receiving orders to withdraw, he organized the squad and led it to a more tenable position.

• During a later assault to drive the enemy from the ridge, Private Santiago-Rodriguez volunteered to carry a wounded comrade to safety.

• Suddenly encountering five enemy soldiers, he placed his wounded comrade on the ground and opened fire on the enemy. After killing four hostile troops, he captured the fifth and forced him to evacuate the wounded man to the battalion aide stations. The gallantry and initiative displayed by Private Santiago-Rodriguez reflect great credit upon himself and the military service.

Arcadio was stationed in Panama, Germany, and several states in the USA. He had the honor of participating in the burial of President John F. Kennedy, a day he always remembered with teary eyes. In 1969, he was selected as U.S. Soldier of the Year.

After he retired from the military, Arcadio settled in Brevard and served Brevard Public Schools with excellence as a school bus driver for 20 years.

In 2014, President Obama formally recognized the Borinqueneers by presenting and honoring them with the highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal.

In November 2024, he was inducted into the Distinguished Puerto Rican Veterans Hall of Fame.

Arcadio Santiago Rodriguez, Cayito, is survived by his wife, Bernarda de Lourdes, and his children, Miriam, Luis Raul, José, Carmen, Annie, Lisi, Susie, and Richard, 15 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. Services were held on Friday, July 18, 2025, at Our Lady of Lourdes in Melbourne. A viewing was held, followed by mass and burial at Florida Memorial Gardens in Rockledge.

As a Borinqueneer, Arcadio leaves a legacy of unwavering loyalty, bravery, discipline, excellence, and love for country and family. You can honor his life by making the world a better place through service to others, planting a tree, or singing a Le Lo Lai.

ABOVE VIDEO: Battle-weary soldiers of the 65th Infantry North of the Han River in June 1951, Korea. “The Borinqueneers” is the first major documentary to chronicle the story of the forgotten soldiers of the 65th Infantry Regiment.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE IN THREE WARS

The “Borinqueneers” were created by Congress in 1898 as an all-Puerto Rican segregated unit, and is credited with the final battalion-sized bayonet assault in U.S. Army history.

In early 1951, while fighting in Korea, two battalions of the 65th fixed bayonets and charged straight up hill toward the enemy, overrunning them and overtaking the enemy’s strategic position.

In September 1944, the 65th Infantry landed in France. It was committed to action on the Maritime Alps at Peira Cava and relieved the 2nd Battalion of the 442nd Infantry Regiment – a regiment which was made up of Japanese Americans.

Called upon to serve in World War I, World War II, and especially the Korean War, the Borinqueneers have consistently shown exceptional and unyielding valor on the battlefield despite the hardships they lived under, such as ethnic discrimination.

During the Korean War, the Borinqueneers were awarded 10 Distinguished Service Crosses, 256 Silver Stars, 606 Bronze Stars, and 2,771 Purple Hearts. Deaths in Korea among the Borinqueneers numbered 750 men. Of these, over 100 are still listed as Missing in Action. They never came home.

As a unit, they earned a Presidential Unit Citation, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, and two Republic of Korea Unit Citations, including personal praise from General Douglas MacArthur when they were called to the front lines of the Korean War.

‘BRILLIANT RECORD OF HEROISM’

“The Puerto Ricans forming the ranks of the gallant 65th Infantry give daily proof on the battlefields of Korea of their courage, determination and resolute will to victory, their invincible loyalty to the United States and their fervent devotion to those immutable principles of human relations which the Americans of the Continent and Puerto Rico have in common,” said MacArthur said of the Borinqueneers. “They are writing a brilliant record of heroism in battle, and I am indeed proud to have them under my command. I wish that we could count on many more like them.”

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