Tony Santiago


Antonio Santiago Rodríguez — better known as Tony the Marine or as Tony Santiago — is a United States Marine veteran, writer, and military historian from New York City, New York, focused mostly on the military history of Puerto Rico and its service members.
For his work, Santiago was recognized by the 23rd Senate of Puerto Rico for being "one of the main contributors of content related to Puerto Rico in the open online encyclopedia known as Wikipedia". The Senate also recognized him as one of the main writers on subjects which relate to Puerto Rico, and an important historian of the Puerto Rican military experience. According to Phoebe Ayers, member of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, this may be the first time that the English Wikipedia has been mentioned in a parliamentary or congressional resolution of this type. She also stated that it is probably the first time that contributions to English Wikipedia have been cited in a formal governmental award, too.

Early years

Santiago was born in New York City, New York, to Joaquín Santiago and Hilda Rodríguez-Mattei, both of Puerto Rican origin. Santiago graduated from high school in New York City and after being accepted to Columbia University, Santiago chose to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps instead.

Military service

Santiago served with the 2nd Battalion 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division in the Vietnam War in the 81 MM Mortar, and later in the Military Police as well.
While in the Marines, Santiago perceived significant ethnic, racial, and national origin discrimination. In response to this, he formed an organization composed of American soldiers of Latino descent. The organization, named Latin Power in Unity, included soldiers of Puerto Rican, Mexican, Central American and other Latino backgrounds.
Santiago also developed a close friendship with Leroy Reese who had formed a similar organization named "Black Power" for Black soldiers. Both men worked closely for the equal treatment of minorities and to improve relations between their members and the members of other ethnic groups in their company. An interview about Santiago's experience in the military, collectively made by author Greg Boudonek and Santiago himself, was published in the book Puertorriquenos Who Served With Guts, Glory, and Honor: Fighting to Defend a Nation Not Completely Their Own.
Upon finishing his tour with the U.S. Marine Corps in 1975, Santiago enrolled at the Interamerican University in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. He graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Business Administration in 1979. In Puerto Rico, he met Milagros, the woman that would become his wife. They married in 1971 and had three children together.

Military historian

In 1990, Santiago moved to Phoenix, Arizona, with his wife and children. At this point he reflected, "the only role models and heroes for Latino children were El Zorro, the Cisco Kid and Speedy Gonzales and," he said, "school textbooks failed to mention the many contributions that Latinos had made to the formation of our country ."
In response, Santiago began publishing a series of short articles about the contributions that Puerto Ricans had made to the American society. He is the editor of the Puerto Rican Military History Channel of the monthly internet magazine El Boricua, a staff writer in the internet magazine Somos Primos and the official historian of the Association of Naval Services Officers.
His early published work focused on military history, but later he expanded his research and documentation to include many other facets of the Puerto Rican life experience.
One email received from a reader of his articles led to Santiago serving to bridge two families that had lost track of each other for many years. It happened in 2007, when Santiago united U.S. Army veteran William W. Kouts with the family of the late David M. Gonzalez. Gonzalez had sacrificed his life to save Kouts during World War II.
On April 2010, Santiago discovered and wrote about Lt. Augusto Rodriguez a Puerto Rican who served in the American Civil War. It was the first time that a link in the American Civil War was made between Puerto Rico and the United States. Rodriguez was thus the first known Puerto Rican veteran of the United States Armed Forces. The significance of this discovery is that, until then, it was believed that Puerto Ricans had not served in the United States military prior to World War I. Puerto Rico's Secretary of State, Kenneth D. McClintock, named Santiago "Puerto Rico's foremost military historian."
Santiago is among the people who were interviewed and who are featured in the documentary ; directed and produced by Los Angeles-based filmmaker Mylene Moreno. The documentary, which aired on PBS in September 22, 2015, examines the Latino experience during the Vietnam War. He was interviewed, together with fellow veteran Oscar Urrea, by PBS Horizante host Jose Cardenas and Univision newscaster Jorge Valenzuela, where he expressed his personal experiences, prior to the showing of the documentary.

Other works

In addition to his military history research and writing, Santiago is also a free lance photojournalist for The Arizona Republic. He is also a member of the national steering committee of "Borinqueneers Congressional Gold Medal Alliance," which sought the Congressional Gold Medal for Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry Regiment, and serves in the "Latino Alliance Advisory Board."
In page 263 of the acknowledgments section of the book War Against All Puerto Ricans, Revolution and Terror in America's Colony author and former representative to the New York State Assembly Nelson Antonio Denis wrote the following:

Honors and awards

Accolades