Rina Cameron plays the violin during a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Sept. 15, 2023. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Hispanic Americans value faith and family and enjoy a distinctive cuisine, but military service ranks high as a calling among the U.S.’s fastest growing ethnic group.
Hispanic members of the Yokota community gathered Friday at the airlift hub to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month.
As a child, Capt. Sophia Guiney, a pilot with the 49th Airlift Squadron, lived in Lima, Peru, her mother’s native home.
“We’re celebrating the history, culture, language of the Hispanic people,” she said during the celebration at the Yokota Community Center. “It’s a wonderful time to look back, reflect on how far we’ve come, what we can accomplish and where we’re going.”
Rina Cameron plays violin alongside other musicians during a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Sept. 15, 2023. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
Hispanic Heritage Month in the U.S. begins on the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, and concludes Oct. 15. Saturday marked Mexican Independence Day.
Latinos accounted for 19% of the U.S. population in 2021, up from 13% in 2000. They have accounted for 54% of U.S. population growth, the largest of any ethnic group, according to the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute.
Members of the Yokota community with Hispanic lineage or personal origins, like Guiney, shared their stories ahead of the celebration.
“We should pause for a second and acknowledge the contributions the Hispanic community and service members have made, are currently making, and will make in the defense of our great nation,” Lt. Col. Jose Luis Montalvan, assistant chief of staff for logistics for Marine Corps Forces Japan, told Stars and Stripes on Sept. 12.
Montalvan at age 11 escaped Managua, Nicaragua, during the Nicaraguan revolution and became a U.S. citizen in 2002, he said. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1995 and was commissioned seven years later through the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program.
Hispanic culture esteems military service, he said.
“Hispanic culture encourages hard work, perseverance, resiliency, and so does the Marine Corps,” Montalvan said. “’Once a Marine, always a Marine’ has always resonated with me. And we, as Hispanics, believe that once you become part of our family, you will forever be family.”
Hispanics, who accounted for 19% of the U.S. population, also comprised 17.9% of its service members — nearly 81,300 people — in October 2022, according to the Defense Department. That’s a significant increase from 2000, when Hispanics, 16.5% of the population, comprised 7.9% of the military, according to Syracuse University.
Tech. Sgt. Zochitl Diaz, the 374th Maintenance Group’s unit training manager, is a first-generation Mexican American. Her mother, Rosa Aparicio, who came to the U.S. at age 15, is her biggest influence, she said Sept. 11.
“She grew up with one dress, no shoes and she’s the reason I stay humble,” Diaz said.
Diaz, a member of the Yokota Latin American Association, described her community as loving, strong and accepting.
“And family is number one,” she said.
Community members at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo pose during a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration at the base community center, Sept. 15, 2023. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
While celebrating his heritage, Montalvan said the military is a place for people of all cultures and backgrounds.
“We come to the United States seeking better opportunities,” he said. “One of the reasons I serve is because there is a kid, maybe even right now, crossing the border seeking the same opportunities that I have been offered. And I feel that it’s my responsibility to make sure that the United States remains the country where people seek a better life.”
