Glendale resident Dottie Stone is adamant that Filipino veterans of World War II must be remembered.
In the chaos of the Pacific theater, Stone credits the troops for their bravery and sacrifice in rescuing her, her family and other prisoners of war from a Japanese-run internment camp in the Philippines.
“If it wasn’t for them, we would all be dead,” said Stone, who spent three years at the University of Santo Tomas camp, enduring harsh conditions and rampant food shortages.
But while stories of Pearl Harbor and Japanese refugees proliferated, the efforts of the Filipinos remained muted in the American consciousness, she said.
She and her family were with some 2,000 other passengers on a ship bound from China — where her British father had been stationed to work for the United Kingdom — when Japanese forces attacked a U.S. Naval base in the Philippines as Stone’s ship neared the island nation. The captain of the ship opted to pull into Manila, where American military forces were still present. But when Japanese forces rolled into Manila in January 1942, Stone, her father, American mother and five brothers and sisters were rounded up and taken to Santo Tomas.
“A Celebration of Survival,” sponsored by the Filipino Veterans Foundation, will honor the Filipino members of the joint United States Armed Forces in the Far East on its 67th anniversary on July 25.
“We want to make people aware of what was going on for all these years, that no one recognized and cared about them. We want to get some justice for the remaining people,” Stone said.
The formal event will include traditional Filipino dancing and food, while honoring those who served in the Far East.
The keynote speaker is former Philippines President Fidel V. Ramos.
Proceeds from the event will go toward healthcare and other humanitarian needs in the Filipino-American community.
The celebration comes after the April passage of The Filipino Veterans’ Equity Bill in the U.S. Senate.
The bill recognizes the efforts of the 18,000 living Filipinos during World War II with a $300 monthly pension. The bill is still pending in the House of Representatives.
The event is also an opportunity to thank those politicians who have been strong advocates for the recognition of Filipino veterans, such as Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif.
