in a foreign combat zone. They are Specialist Frances M. Vega, Specialist Lizbeth Robles, and Specialist Aleina Ramirez Gonzalez. On November 2, 2003, Specialist Frances M. Vega became the first female Puerto Rican soldier born in the United States to die in a war zone. A ground-to-air missile fired by insurgents in Fallujah hit the Chinook transport helicopter Vega was in; she was one of 16 soldiers who lost their lives in the crash that followed. On March 1, 2005, Specialist Lizbeth Robles became the first female Puerto Rican soldier born on the island to die in Iraq when her Humvee was involved in an accident. On July 10, 2007, Captain María Inés Ortiz, who was assigned to a hospital in an area known as the "Green Zone" in Baghdad, Iraq, became the first Puerto Rican nurse to die in combat and the first Army nurse to die in the Iraq War after the area came under a heavy mortar attack. Specialist Hilda I. Ortiz Clayton, who was of Puerto Rican descent, was a U.S. Army combat photographer killed in 2013 when a mortar exploded during an Afghan training exercise; she was able to photograph the explosion that killed her and four Afghan soldiers. The 55th Signal Company named their annual competitive award for combat camera work "The Spc. Hilda I. Clayton Best Combat Camera (COMCAM) Competition" in her honor. Monument of Remembrance Over 1,225 Puerto Ricans have died while serving the United States. The names of those who perished in combat are inscribed in "El Monumento de la Recordación" (Monument of Remembrance), which was unveiled on May 19, 1996, and is situated in front of the Capitol Building in San Juan, Puerto Rico. On Veterans Day, November 11, 2013, a group representing the Puerto Rican community in Connecticut placed a floral arrangement on the tomb of Augusto Rodrigues, who fought in the American Civil War, recognizing him as Puerto Rico's first known U.S. Armed Forces veteran. See also List of Puerto Rican military personnel On Two Fronts: Latinos & Vietnam Puerto Ricans in World War I Puerto Ricans in World War II Puerto Ricans in the Vietnam War Puerto Ricans Missing in Action – Korean War Puerto Ricans Missing in Action – Vietnam War Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links 65th Infantry Regiment Casualty List September 1950 to 1953 Puerto Rican Servicewomen in Defense of the Nation