Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Imperial Army swept south across much of Southeast Asia. Along the way, they invaded the Philippines, a U.S. territory in those days, which forced General Douglas MacArthur and the American military forces stationed there to evacuate the islands, leaving the Filipinos and a handful of American soldiers to fend for themselves.
As the Allies mobilized its forces to the south, President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised those Filipinos who enlisted to fight against the Japanese would be considered as American soldiers. These Filipino soldiers, young and old, pledged their allegiance to protect the United States of America. They fought valiantly side by side with American soldiers against insurmountable odds managing to hold off the formidable Japanese military until they were forced to surrender. Once captured, they suffered and died under the hands of the Japanese as they were forced to march seventy kilometers without food and water in what is now popularly called the Baatan Death March.
Today, many Filipino veterans are hoping for equality. They have come to the United States seeking recognition for their heroic efforts they rendered sixty years ago. They ask for justice and equality. This author believes it is time the U.S. federal government bestow this long awaited recognition before these heroic generation passes away. I encourage readers to write a short letter to your representatives in your support for H.R. 4574, Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2006.
This article published in the Sacramento Bee a few days ago describes the "beteranos" struggle for equality.
Filipino vets ask for full WWII honors
By Stephen Magagnini -- Bee Staff Writer
Raymundo V. Seva survived the hellish Bataan Death March at the hands of his Japanese captors. Seva, 85, lived long enough to become a U.S. citizen -- a privilege granted to thousands of Filipino World War II veterans ordered to serve under Gen. Douglas MacArthur's Far East Command. But Seva, who now resides in downtown Sacramento with his wife, Fe, wonders if he'll live to see the day he and his fellow Filipino warriors will finally be recognized as U.S. veterans.
"The Japanese bullets did not distinguish between U.S. and Filipino people," said Seva. "It's about fairness and justice. It was President Roosevelt who called Filipinos to serve in the U.S. armed forces."
Seva and about a dozen Filipino World War II veterans came to the state Capitol on Tuesday to fight for HR 4574 -- the Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2006 -- being pushed hard by California congressmen Bob Filner, a Democrat, and Darrell Issa, a Republican.
Similar bills have died in Congress. Meanwhile, thousands of Filipino war vets have been claimed by old age long after they helped the United States win the war in the Pacific and MacArthur made good on his famous promise, "I shall return."
Issa's press secretary, Frederick Hill, said a 2003 law authored by Filner did grant Filipino veterans disability benefits for war-related crimes, and access to VA hospitals and nursing homes.
But laws that would grant them benefits equal to U.S. World War II vets have been a tough sell, said Filner, D-San Diego. "This is a bill I've been working on for 14 years," Filner told The Bee. "The 2003 bill took care of part of the problem for the population living in the U.S., but my bill gives full benefits and a pension to all Filipino veterans." Filner said the cost would be about $200 million a year for the roughly 30,000 to 50,000 Filipino veterans still alive, a third of whom now live in America. Filner said the bill is stalled in the Veterans Committee. "If I got it to a vote on the floor of Congress, it would pass," Filner said. "We spend $1 billion in Iraq every 2 1/2 days. So several hundred million a year is not a lot of money. We can afford it, and it's a historical and moral necessity to right this wrong before they all die." Filner added, "There is still racism that led to this problem to begin with. We don't think of these Asian people as somebody we ought to be helping."
The plight of the surviving Filipino warriors has galvanized young Filipino Americans like no other issue. Student Action for Veterans Equity, a Bay Area-based coalition of students with a strong contingent at UC Davis, is spearheading the fight. "It's definitely the most important issue facing Filipino Americans," said SAVE spokeswoman Erin Dawn Passaporte. "We recognize we're here because of the World War II veterans who fought for the freedoms we're sort of tasting right now." Passaporte, 27, has been working with Filipino veterans in San Francisco for years and sees their daily struggle for better housing and medical care. Most live on $776 a month Supplemental Security Income.
In the Capitol basement, alongside Rick Rocamora's photo exhibit of the lives of Filipino war veterans, Seva and his compatriots shared war stories. Seva, a sergeant with the U.S. 1st Infantry Division, recalled April 10, 1942, the day the Japanese marched more than 70,000 Filipino and American POWs about 70 miles in blistering heat without food or water.
"My God, it was hell," Seva said. "If you tried to go out of line to buy food or drink from villagers they just stabbed you with bayonets. Those who couldn't go on, they just killed them." As many as 11,000 didn't make it to the prison camp. Seva became a judge after the war and moved to the United States in 1993 after receiving a letter qualifying him for U.S. citizenship.
Bert Arcaya, who was captured by the Japanese on the southern Filipino island of Mindanao, gave an impassioned speech to his comrades at the Capitol: "After we have fought so many battles we still have a last one to fight," said Arcaya, 84, who lives in a Sacramento retirement home. "We were regularly organized military units ordered to enlist by the president of the U.S." Arcaya said. "We were required to take the Pledge of Allegiance and the soldier's oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America, not the Constitution of the Philippines."
Arcaya, an engineering student when he was called to active service, said he and many other Filipinos joined the guerrillas in the hills. "We used to sing 'God Bless America' and 'America the Beautiful' -- we considered America the mother country."
Many Filipinos saw their wives and daughters raped or bayoneted, Arcaya said. "My father-in-law and father were captured, tortured and finally beheaded." Nearly 100,000 Filipino veterans gave their lives during World War II, Arcaya said. "Telling us we are not U.S. veterans after we have suffered dishonors all Filipino people. "It's not a matter of money or benefits," Arcaya said. "It's a matter of justice and integrity."
Sorcy Apostol, a Filipino American professor at Sacramento City College, said the 2.3 million Filipino Americans -- half of them Californians -- don't have the political clout to get the bill passed, but time is of the essence. "In five or six years from now almost all of them will be gone," she said, "and you want them to really taste the victory they fought for."
I wrote the follwoing letter to the editor.
RE: Filipino vets ask for full WWII honors, August, 30, 2006.
The U.S. federal government spent countless of dollars rebuilding Europe under the Marshall Plan and even recognized its wrong in interning Japanese Americans during WWII when in 1988 President Reagan paid reparations to Japanese internment survivors.
However, for those Filipino WWII veterans who fought valiantly alongside American soldiers, the promise made by FDR sixty years ago to recognize them as equals has yet to be fulfilled. These Filipino soldiers helped turn the tide of the early stages of WWII by preventing the Japanese from sweeping across Southeast Asia giving the Allies the valuable time it needed to mobilize its troops in the Pacific. When General MacArthur left the Philippines, it was the Filipino Scouts, severely outnumbered, who fought valiantly against insurmountable odds against their Japanese enemies. Those who were captured by the Japanese walked and suffered side by side with their American compatriots, most notably in Bataan.
Today, this heroic generation is dying. Most of them live in poverty hoping for the realization of that promise of equality. It is time for Congress to consider and pass H.R. 4574 to restore the dignity of these courageous men who fought under the banner of the American flag.
Technorati Tags:
Filipino WWII Veterans
No comments:
Post a Comment