Tony Santiago, a.k.a. "Tony the Marine," is a writer and administrator for Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, specializing in Puerto Rican related topics. email

Tony was born on March 9, 1950 in the South Bronx section of New York City, to Puerto Rican parents. When he was 13, his family moved to Queens during a time in history when the United States was going through the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam conflict. Upon graduating high school he continued the family tradition by joining the United States Marine Corps. and soon served in Vietnam.

In the Marines he and a group of fellow Puerto Ricans formed a group called "Puerto Rican Power in Unity" which eventually became "Latin Power in Unity". The objective of this group was to unite all the Hispanic Marines regardless of their national background, as a brotherhood. Together they shared their cultures and demanded to be treated equally as their black and white counterparts in the military.

Upon being honorably discharged from the Marine Corps, Tony went to Puerto Rico with the intention of getting in touch with his roots. There he met and married his wife Milagros and together they had three children.

In Puerto Rico Tony realized that as a child he was never taught about the contributions which Puerto Ricans had made to society. When he was a student in the United States, he recalled that he never heard nor read about any contributions made by Hispanics to that nation. The only Hispanic heroes that he ever heard about were "El Zorro" and "El Cisco Kid". He then made it a point to read and study the lives of Puerto Rican historical figures and soon had a library in his house with books about these people.

In 1990, he sold his business and retired, moving to Arizona, there his children finished their superior education and went to college. He spent many hours in the campuses library, while his children attended classes, looking for more information about Puerto Ricans who helped shape our society but were relatively unknown.

"Tony 'the Marine" is the editor of our Puerto Rican Military History channel.