Supporters of a posthumous Medal of Honor for Jorge Otero Barreto, one of the most decorated soldiers of the Vietnam War, completed a formal petition to the U.S. Department of Defense, Jeffrey Rosales, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran leading the effort for the Puerto Rican known as the "Rambo boricua," said on Friday, November 13. "This effort does not seek to bypass the military decorations process," Rosales said.
Days earlier, Otero Barreto’s battle comrades signed sworn statements corroborating his extraordinary acts of valor in Vietnam, which were incorporated into the document requesting the highest U.S. military decoration. The testimony centers on his performance in the battle of Phuoc Yen, fought between April 28 and May 3, 1968. Retired second lieutenant Terry Mills, Otero Barreto’s former platoon leader, said in one statement dated November 2 that he showed "exceptional leadership and bravery under dangerous combat conditions."
Otero Barreto, a Vega Baja native who died in October 2024 and served in the U.S. Army from 1959 to 1970, received 38 decorations, including two Silver Stars and five Bronze Star Medals, and carried out 200 combat missions in Vietnam. The petition went to the Awards and Decorations Branch of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command.
In Congress, Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández has pending legislation that would grant an exception to the law’s time limits, three to five years after the events, so the president can bestow the medal. Republican congressman Jack Bergman of Michigan, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, asked Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth on the 20th to review the idea.
Retired Army sergeant Héctor Colón Ríos said on October 28 that he directly knew of Otero Barreto’s valor and witnessed Major General Mark Barsanti express his intention to honor him, but Barsanti died of cancer before the nomination process could be completed. Rosales works with Captain Wilmarie Boisvert and retired colonel Arnaldo Claudio.