Brigadier General Virgilio Norberto Cordero Jr. (June 6, 1893- June 9, 1980) was a Puerto Rican soldier who served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. Cordero authored two books about his experiences as a prisoner of war, and his participation in the

Bataan Death March The Bataan Death March (Filipino: ''Martsa ng Kamatayan sa Bataan''; Spanish: ''Marcha de la muerte de Bataán'' ; Kapampangan: ''Martsa ning Kematayan quing Bataan''; Japanese: バターン死の行進, Hepburn: ''Batān Shi no Kōshin'') wa ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Early years

Cordero was born in San Juan, the capital city of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

when the island was still a Spanish colony. There he received his primary and secondary education. He moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from Penn State University in 1917. That year he also graduated from the ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) program of that educational institution.Toledo Blade - Jun 9, 1980
/ref> He then entered the officers candidate school in Madison Barracks, New York and graduated with the rank of second lieutenant.

Military career

Cordero enlisted in the United States Army after graduating from PSU. He served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and by 1922, according to the Official Army register, he held the rank of captain of

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

. On December 8, 1941, when Japanese planes attacked the U.S. military installations in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, Cordero, who by then held the rank of colonel, was the Battalion Commander of the 31st Infantry Regiment. The 31st Infantry covered the withdrawal of American and Philippine forces to the Bataan Peninsula and fought for four months, despite the fact that no help could come in from the outside after much of the

United States Pacific Fleet The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor� ...

was destroyed at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

and mid-ocean bases at

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

and

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of T ...

were lost. Cordero was named Regimental Commander of the 52nd Infantry Regiment of the new Filipino Army, thus becoming the first Puerto Rican to command a Filipino Army regiment. The Bataan Defense Force surrendered on April 9, 1942, and Cordero and his men underwent torture and humiliation during the

and nearly four years of captivity. Cordero was one of nearly 1,600 members of the 31st Infantry who were taken as prisoners. Half of these men perished while prisoners of the Japanese forces. Cordero along with other senior US military officers were liberated in the

Mukden Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu name Mukden, is a major Chinese sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. Located in central-north Liaoning, it is the prov ...

POW Camp after the unconditional surrender of Japan in September 2, 1945. From July 1946 to November 1947, he served in the US military base in Caserta, Italy before returning to the United States. While in Italy, he was awarded a Silver Star Medal and the Legion of Merit for his actions in Bataan.

Silver Star citation

Post-World War II

Cordero continued to serve in the military retiring in 1953 after 36 years of service. Cordero wrote about his experiences as a prisoner of war and what he went through during the Bataan Death March. He authored ''My Experiences during the War with Japan'', which was published in 1950. In 1957, he authored a revised Spanish version titled ''Bataan y la Marcha de la Muerte''; Volume 7 of ''Colección Vida e Historia'', published by: A. Aguado. On June 9, 1980, Cordero died of lung ailment in the U.S. Navy Hospital in the Roosevelt Roads base in

Ceiba, Puerto Rico Ceiba () is both a small town and a municipality in northeast Puerto Rico. It is named after the famous Ceiba tree. Ceiba is located in the north-east coast of the island, bordering the Atlantic Ocean, south of Fajardo, north of Naguabo and sou ...

. He was buried with full military honors in Section G, Plot 3 in the

Puerto Rico National Cemetery Puerto Rico National Cemetery is a United States national cemetery located in the city of Bayamón, in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It encompasses of land, and at the end of 2005, had 44,722 interments. Until 2021, it was the only United St ...

located in the city of Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Cordero was survived by his wife, the former Gloria Haydon (1922-1981) of Needham, Massachusetts, four children and three grandchildren.Philippine Defenders, The Quan; Page 13
/ref>

Military decorations

Among the military decorations which Cordero earned were the following: Tabs: * 31 Infantry Regiment Coat Of Arms

31st Infantry Regiment

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cordero Jr., Virgilio N. 1893 births 1980 deaths Burials at Puerto Rico National Cemetery Deaths from lung disease United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army personnel of the Korean War Bataan Death March prisoners People from San Juan, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican military officers Puerto Rican Army personnel Penn State College of Engineering alumni Recipients of the Silver Star Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Army generals