|
|
 |
|
“Identification
with our nation’s history will foster assimilation and participation in common goals that promote good citizenship and
civic involvement”
This website is dedicated
to all soldiers of Pilipino descent who are currently serving and who had served in the United States military during
the Iraq and Afghanistan
wars. Unlike, the previous wars where our grandfathers (WW1), fathers and husbands (Korean & Vietnam wars)had served,
in these current Mideast wars, not only our sons, but significantly our daughters are serving in the war fronts. (view
http://filipinos-ww2usmilitaryservice.tripod.com for especial tribute to the Pilipinas
during WW11)
Therefore, in these
wars of our sons and daughters, it is just fitting that we pay special tribute to U.S. Army Sgt. Myla L. Maravillosa (1981-2005), a native of Bohol, Philippines
who had died from injuries suffered during an RPG attack in Iraq.
The Mideast
wars are also significantly different from the previous wars in the advancement of the military ranks and job classifications
for the soldiers of Pilipino descent. Nothing could illustrate this fact better, than the story of the triumvirate second
generations multi-decorated Pilipino-American Army retired generals. Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano, the Army Station Chief during
the Persian Gulf war was born in 1949 in Alcala, Pangasinan, the son of a Death March, POW and Korean War veteran. Born 1950
in Libmanan, Camarines Sur, Brig Gen Oscar B. Hilman, the
son of a U.S. Navy Master Chief, is a non-commissioned officer who served in Iraq for a year after working his way thru the ranks to become the commander of the Washington State Army National Guard. Of
course, the history of Iraq war will be incomplete without mentioning the
name of General Antonio Taguba, author of the Taguba Report
about Abu Ghraib Iraq prison, who was born in 1950 in Sampaloc, Manila, the son of a MIA and Death March survivor. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy awarded
the Bronze Star Medal on July 12, 2003 to Captain Jose R. Corpus, the Chief of
Staff for the Carrier Group 5 (CAR GRU-Kitty Hawk Strike Group) for providing combat air support during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
A 1977 U.S. Naval Academy graduate, the Quezon City native was born in 1954 and immigrated
to Seattle Washington when
he was thirteen years old.
The 1st
guest page in this website is for the soldiers of Pilipino descent who served in the Persian Gulf conflict, also known as
the Desert Storm (8/2/1990 to 2/28/1991), a UN authorized war led by the United
States that involved 34 allied nations against Saddam Hussein.
The 2nd
guest page is for the Republic
of the Philippines Humanitarian Contingent to Iraq sent in September 2003 by the Pilipino government mostly to help in nation
rebuilding like providing medical assistance, water purification program, building schoolhouses, clinics, roads, bridges,
training local police etc. The non-combatant mission was located at Camp Charlie in Hillah, 80 km south of Baghdad,
under the Polish Military leadership in the Multinational Division Command and was staffed by soldiers, policemen and volunteer
medical personnel. However in July 2004, Angelo Dela Cruz, a Pilipino truck driver was taken hostage by the Iraqi insurgents
and was released only after President Gloria M. Arroyo met the insurgents demand that the Philippine president abort the Humanitarian
Contingent mission. Moreover, concerns for the safety of the 1.5 million Mideast Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) outweighed
the traditional role of the Philippine government to always align its political and military policies to that of the United States. Another political complication is the reality
of the Philippine government’s ongoing military and political conflicts with the Muslim Pilipinos in Southern Philippines
whose insurgencies were not completely subdued by the Spanish Cross, the Toledo Swords and
the United States Colt .45.
The awareness
of our unique history is the responsibility of every living Pilipino. I offer you this website as a limited resource for these
wars and military conflicts. It is my hope that my love for the Philippines
history and culture overcome my lack of scholarly credential.
|
|
|
“The White Man’s Burden: The United States and The Philippine Islands”
is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling in 1899 urging the United States to take the “burden” of empire in the U.S.
colonization of the Philippines. Today, more than a hundred years after this poem was written, many military personnel of
color, included those of Pilipino descent, had taken more than their share of
the burden, albeit not for the reason of colonization, but more so for the pursuit of freedom & attainment of a democratic
society for everyone. It is just fitting that this website include this poem as a reminder, if nothing else, that in the shifting
sands of the world’s politics, conflicting ideologies, allegiances and sad to say, in the struggles for economic supremacy,
the burden of fighting and dying for all these earthly aspirations and goals is the soldier’s burden to bear.
The White Man's Burden
By Rudyard Kipling
Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go, bind your
sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught
sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.
Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of
terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's
profit
And work another's gain.
Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine,
And bid the sickness
cease;
And when your goal is nearest
(The end for others sought)
Watch sloth and heathen folly
Bring all your
hope to nought.
Take up the White Man's burden--
No iron rule of kings,
But toil of serf and
sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go, make them
with your living
And mark them with your dead.
Take up the White Man's burden,
And reap his old reward--
The blame of those
ye better
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought
ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"
Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud
on Freedom
To cloak your weariness.
By all ye will or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent sullen peoples
Shall
weigh your God and you.
Take up the White Man's burden!
Have done with childish days--
The lightly-proffered
laurel,
The easy ungrudged praise:
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold, edged
with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
When Johnny Comes Marching Home |
|
Patrick Gilmore |
When Johnny comes marching home again,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We'll give him
a hearty welcome then
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The men will cheer and the boys will shout
The ladies they will all turn out
And
we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.
The old church bell will peal with joy
Hurrah! Hurrah!
To welcome home
our darling boy,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The village lads and lassies say
With roses they will strew the way,
And we'll
all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.
Get ready for the Jubilee,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We'll give the hero three
times three,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The laurel wreath is ready now
To place upon his loyal brow
And we'll all feel gay
when Johnny comes marching home.
Let love and friendship on that day,
Hurrah, hurrah!
Their choicest pleasures
then display,
Hurrah, hurrah!
And let each one perform some part,
To fill with joy the warrior's heart,
And we'll
all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home
FAIR USE
Pursuant to Title
17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If
you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from
the copyright owner
Alert Alert Alert
New Guest Webpage
To honor our Filipino UN Peacekeepers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Filipinos US Military Service in Iraq & Afghanistan
|
|
|
|