In 1928, former U.S. Naval Academy midshipman Henry Garcia received a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) commission. In doing so, Puerto Rican-born Garcia made history by becoming that military branch’s first officially recognized minority officer. A decade later, he achieved another milestone when he was made the captain of the patrol boat USCG Morris. This assignment made Garcia the first Hispanic-American to serve as commander of one of the USCG’s cutters (seaworthy vessels used for law enforcement duties).
Information on Henry Garcia and several of the USCG’s other Hispanic-American pioneers is available at https://www.uscg.mil/history/uscghist/USCGHispanicAmericanHistoryTrifold.pdf
Transportation History 
Leave a Reply