April 9, 2022 – From the General Douglas MacArthur Memorial : 80 years ago today, with his forces crippled by starvation, disease, and lack of supplies, Major General Edward King Jr. surrendered approximately 75,000 American and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. This was the largest surrender of American forces in history. The new POWs would be marched 60+ miles from Mariveles to San Fernando. Thousands died or were executed during this forced march that became known as the “Bataan Death March.”
Oct. 25, 2017 – Filipino WWII Vets Awarded Congressional Medal , the highest CIVILIAN award in the U.S.A. (3:18). Filipino WW2 veterans were denied the military recognition for their service to the ONLY country they knew; for their sacrifices many made the ultimate sacrifice in Bataan, Corregidor and resisting Japanese occupation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAcZbl640jc
Because at the start of WW2 in the Pacific the U.S. military was segregated, Filipinos were mentioned separately. “Major General Edward King Jr. surrendered approximately 75,000 American AND Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula.”
Surpassing even the brutality of the Japanese captors during the Bataan Death March and incarceration of Allied P.O.Ws, the bigger tragedy of the Fall of Bataan and later Corregidor, was the fact that on Feb. 18, 1946, the 79th U.S. Congress OVERRODE President Truman’s VETO and passed the Rescission Act of 1946 declaring that the military service of ALL Filipinos who served in WW2 including the guerrillas as “NOT ACTIVE MILITARY SERVICE”.
The Rescission Act of 1946 will explain why on Oct. 25, 2017 a Filipino WW2 veteran was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, The Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom are the highest civilian awards in the United States.
Excerpts from Celestino’s Oct. 25, 2017 speech (at 2:14) “Many have passed away waiting for 75 years for this time to come. I am Celestino Almeda, a 100-year-old Filipino WWII veteran, I have waited along with my fellow Filipino and American soldiers for this moment to come.
After the war, thousands of us fell underappreciated and unrecognized for fighting for our country. Thank you all and God Bless America.”
Filipino WWII Vets Awarded Congressional Medal , the highest CIVILIAN award in the U.S.A. (3:18). Filipino WW2 veterans were denied the military recognition for their service to the ONLY country they knew; for their sacrifices many made the ultimate sacrifice in Bataan, Corregidor and resisting Japanese occupation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAcZbl640jc
Like the racist Tydings McDuffie Act passed by the 73rd U.S. Congress that FDR signed on March 24, 1934, the Rescission Act of 1946 is another racist, pure and simple wholesale discrimination of our parents, grandparents the Native Filipinos. How do we solve this extreme indifference first by the 73rd U.S. Congress and later the 79th U.S. Congress?