Tony Santiago

Antonio Santiago Rodríguez (born March 9, 1950) — 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," effectively becoming the first person ever to be recognized by a legislative body for contributing to 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.

Early years
Santiago was born in New York City, New York, on 9 March 1950, to Joaquín Santiago and Hilda Rodríguez-Mattei, both of Puerto Rican origin. The family lived in the Puerto Rican neighborhood of the South Bronx, where Tony had an early exposure to a large Puerto Rican extended family, culture and music.

His father's job as Master of Ceremonies at Teatro Puerto Rico and Latino radio producer further helped expose Tony to traditional Puerto Rican music, theatre and culture.

In 1948, the former Forum Theater was renamed Teatro Puerto Rico and began presenting Hispanic stage shows that attracted patrons from the New York metropolitan area. It was not just the main concert venue for Latino performers in New York City hosting artists from all parts of Latin America. It was also one of the few places where Puerto Rican families from all over New York City could gather to celebrate their culture, and preserve their musical traditions.

Backstage at Teatro Puerto Rico and in his own family living room, Santiago met many Latino artists thanks to his father's position as MC for Teatro Puerto Rico. Growing up, Santiago was thus surrounded by a significant amount of Latino cultural activity.

While serving as manager and MC of Teatro Puerto Rico, Santiago’s father also directed and produced a children's talent show called Fiesta Infantíl con Joaquín Santiago. The show encouraged parents to bring their children to participate and perform.

Young Antonio Santiago met many of these children and shared in many of their life stories. This exposed him to hundreds of both established and developing artists, and laid the foundation for Santiago’s growing interest in biography and historical preservation.

Military service and education
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.

Santiago saw active combat in the Marines. He 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 (hence his nickname), Santiago encountered 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.

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.

Santiago worked for Banco Crédito, then formed and headed an import/export company for 20 years. In Puerto Rico, he also 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 Gonzalez and," he said, "school textbooks failed to mention the many contributions that Latinos had made to the formation of our country [the United States].”

In response, Santiago began publishing a series of short articles about the contributions that Puerto Ricans had made to the American society. The articles were published in El Boricua, Somos Primos and other similar media outlets. He also became the official historian of the Association of Naval Services Officers (ANSO).

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 unexpected by-product of his library and cyber research was the emails received from readers of his articles. One such email 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."

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 is seeking the Congressional Gold Medal for Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry Regiment, and serves in the "Latino Alliance Advisory Board."

Accolades

 * On 20 November 2007, the Senate of Puerto Rico issued Resolution No. 3603 applauding Santiago's military legacy. The Resolution called Santiago "an important historian of Puerto Rican military contribution, [who] over the years has documented the history of Puerto Rican sacrifice and heroism in the battlefields using the internet, the Puerto Rican Military History Channel, the cultural magazine El Boricua and Somos Primos."
 * On Memorial Day of 2008, Congressman Luis Fortuño read a statement about Tony the Marine into the U.S. Congressional Record.
 * On 10 August 2010, Puerto Rico's Secretary of State, Kenneth D. McClintock, named Santiago "Puerto Rico's foremost military historian."
 * On 28 August 2012, the Latino Alliance named Santiago a "Champion of Character."
 * On 11 November 2013 (Veteran's Day), Kenneth McClintock Hernández, the former Secretary of State and former president of the Senate of Puerto Rico, again gave special recognition to Santiago. McClintock honored him for documenting the sacrifice, and preserving the legacy, of Puerto Rican veterans throughout world history.
 * In January 2014, the Wikimedia Foundation included Mr. Santiago's photo on the cover of their 2012-2013 Annual Report.