Hector A. Negroni

Col. Hector Negroni, Alpha Upsilon (Drexel), was initiated into Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity on June 2, 1957. After completing one year of civil engineering courses, he received appointments for all three service academies: The United States Military Academy at West Point, The United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and The United States Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs. He decided to attend the Air Force Academy and earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering with a focus on public affairs in 1961. After graduating, Negroni was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force and was awarded his aviator wings. He received his pilot wings in 1962 after training at Reese Air Force Base in Texas. In 1964, the Air Force offered him a scholarship to pursue a master’s degree. In 1967, Negroni graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a master’s degree in Hispanic studies. From 1967-71, he taught and directed all Spanish courses in the Air Force Academy.

Throughout his career, Negroni accumulated more than 600 combat hours, participating in missions during the Vietnam War. In 1973, he returned stateside to the 317th Tactical Airlift Wing, Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, serving as an aircraft commander, flight commander, assistant operations officer and wing chief of aircrew training. In 1977, Negroni was promoted to lieutenant colonel and became the 3rd Mobile Aerial Port Squadron Commander. In 1978, he was named the chief of liaison for the Joint United States Military Group in Spain. For his contributions towards successfully implementing the United States-Spain Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, he was presented with the Spanish government’s highest Air Force peacetime award, the Aeronautical Merit Cross. In 1980, Negroni was assigned to the Pentagon, where he held the roles of Latin America Politico-Military Affairs Officers for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, vice commander for the Air District of Washington at Bolling Air Force Base and the Chief of the Policy and Management Division – Directorate of International Program at the Headquarters of the United States Air Force.

In October 1985, after 24 years of service, Negroni retired from the United States Air Force.

Highlights

• First Puerto Rican graduate of the United States Air Force Academy
• Legion of Merit; Meritorious Service Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Air Medal; Air Force Commendation Medal; Air Force Outstanding Unit Award – United States Armed Forces
• Defense Meritorious Service Medal – United States Department of Defense
• Combat Readiness Medal – United States Air Force and United States Space
• Colonel – United States Air Force
• Commissioned by Spain’s Fifth Centennial Commission to write the Historia Militar de Puerto Rico (A Military History of Puerto Rico)
• Puerto Rico Veterans Hall of Fame (2022)
• Author of La Genealogía de Puerto Rico (The Genealogy of Puerto Rico), Historia de Yauco (The History of Yauco) and The History of the Negroni Family.