Article:
M/SGT Juan Rivera – Service Company, 65th Infantry Regiment
April 20, 1877 – October 1, 1942
Born in the old Lajas neighborhood of San Germán, he was baptized as Juan Lorenzo Rivera Vélez in the parish of San Germán de Auxerre. The legitimate son of Lorenzo Rivera Crespo and Marcelina Vélez Toro, peasants. He was the second son of five siblings named Antonio, Esteban, Joaquín, and Marcelina. At an early age, he faced the loss of his parents. First, his mother as a result of the smallpox epidemic at the end of the 19th century, and then his father, who drowned in a river. To support his younger siblings, he moved to the urban center of San Germán to work as a servant for families of the municipal elite. After the Spanish-American War, and a month after the capture of San Germán, both older brothers, Antonio and Juan, responded to the call for the creation of a Battalion in Puerto Rico. Juan enlisted on April 26, 1899, and was sworn in by future World War I Brigadier General James Joseph Hornbrook, being assigned to Company C in San Juan. From 1899 to 1914, the majority of his military service occurred in San Juan, Washington, D.C., Panama, and Cayey. He marched in Washington, D.C., during the Parade in honor of President William McKinley during the inauguration of his second term.
He was deployed to Panama during the construction of the Canal to counter any threats in the midst of World War I. After his return to Puerto Rico in March 1919, he served in several companies within the regiment, including Companies B and F. Finally, by 1925, he held the rank of Sergeant in the Supply Company of the 65th Infantry Regiment based at Camp Las Casas, where he received his Honorary Discharge on April 26, 1930, with the rank of Master Sergeant.
In his personal life, Juan Rivera Vélez had two civil marriages. The first was to Rosa Rivera Santana, whom he divorced after a year without having any children. Later, while in Cayey, he met María Florentina Rivera Collazo, whom he married for the second time and with whom he had four children. It is worth noting that María is the sister of another Sergeant, Jose E. Rivera Collazo, of the 65th Infantry. After his retirement, Juan Rivera Vélez lived 12 more years in poor health due to lung ailments resulting from the multiple times he contracted malaria during his service. He finally died on October 1, 1942, at the now-defunct Miramar Hospital in Santurce, the same day Brigadier General Hornbrook died in California.
Written by his great-grandson, Juan Sala Pérez