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Good Conduct Medal Awarded to Cuban Revolutionary Leader


Reforger
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Usually I would just post this in the "Named Army Good Conduct Medals" topic, but this unique medal deserves having an own topic. This GCM was awarded to Cuban revolutionary leader Emilio Tro who was acquainted with the famous Fidel Castro. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a photo of him. Enjoy the medal and the story!

 

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Emilio Tro (Rivero) was born on June 18, 1918 in Havana, Cuba. In his youth he participated in overthrowing the dictatorship of President Machado and he also took part in the Spanish Civil War. Due to his actions against the regime of President Batista he fled to Mexico in 1941. Leaving from Tijuana Mexico, Emilio Tro entered the United States in 1942 via Escondido, CA. He was living in Los Angeles when he joined the US Army on February 15, 1943 receiving service number 39560367. Weighing 168 lbs. at 5'10", the Cuban with a dark complexion fought with distinction in WWII. According to various sources, Emilio Tro was a paratrooper and fought both in the Pacific and European theaters of war, being awarded the Purple Heart and Good Conduct Medal. On April 21, 1944, while serving as a Private with the Headquarters unit of the 3rd Combat Crew Replacement Center Group in Toome, Northern Ireland, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America. After WWII, Emilio Tro returned to Cuba where he became the leader of the UIR, the Unión Insurreccional Revolucionaria, an openly violent revolutionary gang with an anti-communist agenda. Tro explained that the goals of the UIR were to punish the henchmen of Batista and Machado and to establish a socialized economy. The UIR carried out a number of assassinations. The main rival of the UIR was the MSR, the Movimento Socialista Revolucionaro, a similar (but left-wing) organization headed by Rolando Masferrer. Both organizations were considered to be gangs and not actual revolutionary movements. In an attempt to control the dangerous gangs in the country, President Ramón Grau appointed Emilio Tro as police major and director of the National Police Academy. With the University of Havana being a hotbed of crime and violence, it was here that law student Fidel Castro came into contact with the UIR and Emilio Tro. Castro had attempted to assassinate a leading member of the UIR so that he could join the MSR. However, the assassination attempt failed and Fidel Castro actually gained the trust of Emilio Tro and joined the UIR. Tro, who liked Fidel Castro, presented him with a pistol. Emilio Tro was killed on September 15, 1947 in a bloody clash in a Havana suburb. While eating dinner at the home of the chief of police of Marianao, the house was surrounded by Tro‘s enemies and a firefight took place that lasted for hours. The assault was led by rival MSR leader and head of the Bureau of Special Investigations Mario Salabarría. Tro was just one of the many casualties of the fight that had been broadcast live via radio and filmed. Numerous tanks and armored cars were also on the scene as President Grau had ordered the Army to intervene. This event would later be called the Orfila Massacre.

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I was not knowledgeable of Emilio Tro Rivero until seeing this posting.  I am not any type of an expert on GCM engraving styles or on different GCM production differences.  I found a couple things about this veteran that did not seem quite right.  I do not understand why his last name would have been omitted from the engraving.

 

if he was drafted in February 1943 and was in Ireland in April 1944 that is plenty of time for him to have gone through airborne training.  But the 3rd Combat Crew Replacement Center was a USAAF unit, charged with training recently arrived bomber.crews with the reality of combat over Europe (plenty of info on Wikipedia about these training units, which I had never heard of before) so why would a qualified paratrooper end up in that type of unit?  Could he have earned a PH?  Possible, maybe on a training mission over Europe, but the odds seem against it.

 

Could Rivero have fought in both the Pacific and European theaters?  Again, possible but unlikely.  Airborne units in the Pacific were scarce - 11th Abn Div and 503d PIR, were the main ones.  Why would a jump qualified private in a USAAF training unit be sent to the Pacific when, after June 6, 1944, European-based airborne units were in desperate need of qualified personnel?

 

If Rivero was killed in September 1947, when and to whom was this medal issued?  Did he marry and have children between discharge and being killed?  If so, did one of his offspring request this medal? Experts would have to state when the GCM was actually manufactured and available for distribution.  
 

I think this piece provides an incredible opportunity for additional research to verify some of the information provided.  

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Thanks for the input. The information concerning his service was compiled based on various sources. If you do research on him, you will find that some sources contradict each other. For example in one book the author says he was a Marine, which is obviously not true and in another one the wrong year of birth is given. The short biography I posted is based on what I consider the most reliable information available. But without applying for his military records I don't think we will know for sure if everything stated about him is true or not. However, his service with the 3rd CCRCG in Toome is definitely correct as it is mentioned on his naturalization petition.

The Good Conduct Medal is officially named and he would have received it upon separation from service. It is definitely a WWII era medal with correct period engraving. I have no doubt about its authenticity. This medal came out of Florida which makes a lot of sense if you consider the large Cuban minority there.

 

I attached a scan of his naturalization petition.

Petition.pdf

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2 hours ago, Reforger said:

It is definitely a WWII era medal with correct period engraving. I have no doubt about its authenticity. This medal came out of Florida which makes a lot of sense if you consider the large Cuban minority there.

 

I don't think FFZflyer is questioning the authenticity of the medal, but rather the attribution to a soldier with the last name of Rivero.  Emilio Tro could be a different individual than Emilio T Rivero.  The documents Bob posted suggest Emilio T Rivero served under the name Emilio T Rivero.  

 

What have you found in your research that leads you to believe Rivero used Tro as his last name?

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The petition for naturalization has him using Tro as his last name on an official document.

 

I think we're missing a name change document that took place between his draft and his naturalization.

 

As far as I'm concerned, I'm confident that the attribution of this medal is correct. 

 

Interesting story!

Screenshot_25.jpg

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For what its worth, you might want to consider Spanish/Hispanic/Latin name conventions.  This could be as simple as "Tro" was his father's last name and "Rivero" was his mother's last name so he went by "Emilio Tro Rivero" in Cuba.  When he applied for US citizenship he may have changed to the US name convention and used his father's last name and did the same in the Army.

Dennis

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Yes, Tro and Tro Rivero are the same person. And thanks for mentioning the custom of Spanish naming. That could very well be the reason he dropped the last name "Rivero". Luckily he was the only soldier with that name to serve in the US Army in WWII, so this is without a doubt his medal.

I asked the person I got the medal from if they had any more items that belonged to him, but unfortunately this was it. It would be great if I could find a photo of him, but no luck so far. The only photos I could find online show people that were associated with him, that's all.

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Here's a little update: I did some more research, this time in Spanish. A couple of sources claim he participated in D-Day/Operation Overlord. One source also says he remained in Japan for 4 months after the war as part of the occupation force. I don't know if these claims are true or just myths, but it sure sounds interesting.

Is it possible to get a copy of his service record and get information on the units and campaigns he was in? Is there a topic here on the forum about requesting Army service records or does anyone have experience? I may consider doing that if it's even possible. I do know a lot of documents were destroyed in a fire decades ago.

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18 minutes ago, Reforger said:

Here's a little update: I did some more research, this time in Spanish. A couple of sources claim he participated in D-Day/Operation Overlord. One source also says he remained in Japan for 4 months after the war as part of the occupation force. I don't know if these claims are true or just myths, but it sure sounds interesting.

Is it possible to get a copy of his service record and get information on the units and campaigns he was in? Is there a topic here on the forum about requesting Army service records or does anyone have experience? I may consider doing that if it's even possible. I do know a lot of documents were destroyed in a fire decades ago.

 

Unfortunately, Army service records are mostly gone from the 1973 fire. Occasionally, you can get lucky and find a service record that has been restored or that survived, but I believe most of the ones from this part of the alphabet were turned to ash.

 

Also, it would require the NPRC to be open...and it's not. So what you can find online and through other sources is what you're going to have to work with, sadly. 

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That's too bad. I guess I'll have to wait and see if it's worth the try when they're back open. I've checked all the sources I have access to. Unless someone has some Airborne or jump school rosters from WWII, I don't think I will be getting any further with my research at moment. I do appreciate all the help so far!

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We may never know the truth about this veteran unless it were possible to review his military personnel record.  Having said that, one can make some educated assumptions about his service.  It is known that in April 1944 he was with a USAAF training unit in Northern Ireland. It would be highly unlikely that he was pulled out of that unit in order to make the Normandy invasion two months later.  What is more likely that he was swept up from that training unit as the casualties rose to unprecedented levels as the U.S. Army fought across France and into Germany.  That meat grinder required fresh meat and many, many rear echelon troopers suddenly found themselves holding an M-1 as a deuce-and-a-half dropped them off at the front.  Very few of these sudden infantrymen received any combat training.  Many died within hours of joining their new units.  If Rivero did earn a PH it more than likely occurred under these circumstances.  It may be all apocryphal, though, because being a wounded paratrooper who fought in two theaters makes a potential revolutionary seem really cut out for that role.  Is it possible he went from Europe to Japan to serve in the occupation forces there?  Yes.  Is it probable?  Less likely.  Wounded combat veterans from Europe would probably have had enough points to be high on the discharge list.

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