This great nation owes the last of our Filipino-American veterans a debt of gratitude. It’s time America pays them back. It’s been a long march from Bataan to Capitol Hill. This is their ‘twilight’s last gleaming.’
November 11 is known as Veterans’ Day, a United States legal holiday to honor Armistice Day, the end of World War 1. In a passed legislature in 1938, the day was dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day," that honored WWI veterans. On June 1, 1954, however, legislation was approved to make November 11 a day to honor American veterans of all wars.
But history tells us a different story, as wars fought by the US were not really their battles alone.
In 1941, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an order that made Filipino soldiers fight side by side with US soldiers in the Far East. Filipino soldiers were promised GI benefits and eligibility for American citizenship for their service and valor.
In 1942, Filipino soldiers marched alongside Americans in the historic Bataan Death March that began at Mariveles. Any troops who fell behind were executed, others were beaten randomly and were denied food and water for many days, and those who lived collapsed on the dead bodies of their comrades.
The Death March is probably the strongest connection Filipino and American soldiers have. General Douglas MacArthur, who vowed to return to the Philippines, was finally able to keep his word with his historic landing in Leyte, one of the initial steps taken toward an American victory over Japan.
Today, another march seems to continue for our Filipino veterans —the Debt March. In 1946, the US Congress passed the Rescission Act, which took back all the promises made and deemed Filipino veterans ineligible for benefits.
Many of those veterans immigrated here in the US, hoping that they would be able to get the honor they truly deserve. But most of them are in their late ‘70s and ‘80s, and it’s estimated that every day, two veterans die. These aging veterans are running out of time, as the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill still has failed to come through for them. While Congress voted to establish a nearly $200 million Filipino Veterans Equity fund this year, opponents of Filipino veterans equity successfully blocked the legislation required to provide veteran status and compensation to the few remaining Filipino veterans.
S. 1315, the Veterans' Benefits Enhancement Act of 2007, an omnibus veterans' benefits bill, contained provisions to provide WWII Filipino veterans who served under US military command with recognition as veterans, limited pension, and increased compensation for their twilight years. In the House, the Filipino veterans' provisions were stripped and efforts to negotiate a final version of the bill were blocked when the bill was returned to the Senate.
For our Filipino Veterans, the march never ended. It still continues today, until they reach their destination—and that is, for the US to recognize their courage and loyalty to a country other than their own.
(Published November 12, 2008 p.A1 LAMDWK)
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