California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 37

Introduced by Assembly Member Bonta

April 21, 2016

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 37—Relative to Filipino veterans.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 37, as introduced, Bonta. Filipino veterans.

This measure would request that the Congress of the United States award the Congressional Gold Medal to Filipino veterans of World War II in recognition of their loyal and selfless duty to the Philippines and to the United States.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The Legislature has always properly recognized
the service and sacrifice of all veterans and, in August 2011, passed
Assembly Bill 199 to encourage the inclusion of the role of
Filipinos during World War II in the social sciences curriculum
for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, in California; and

WHEREAS, On July 26, 1941, the United States Army Forces
in the Far East (USAFFE) was created by a military order by the
United States War Department and signed by President Franklin
D. Roosevelt, which federalized all military units in the United
States Commonwealth of the Philippines into the service of the
United States Army under the command of General Douglas
MacArthur; and

WHEREAS, On December 8, 1941, just six hours after the
bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Philippines was invaded by Japan.
On December 24, 1941, in accordance with War Plan Orange 3
(WPO3), the USAFFE made a strategic retreat to the Bataan
Peninsula which guarded the entrance of Manila Bay. Filipino
soldiers of the USAFFE made up seven-eighths of the main line
of resistance in the Battle of Bataan. Despite the lack of training
and equipment and fighting without any air support, the Filipino
and American soldiers of the USAFFE fought with great distinction
and inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese Army in the Battle of
Abucay, Battle of the Points, and Battle of the Pockets in January
and February 1942. Because of the Europe First Policy, the
USAFFE troops were unable to receive necessary reinforcement,
which led to massive disease and starvation. However, they
performed a delaying action that disrupted the timetable of the
Japanese Army of 52 days, defending the Bataan peninsula for 99
days; and

WHEREAS, On April 9, 1942, General Edward P. King, Jr.,
Commanding General of the Luzon Forces, was forced to surrender
75,000 USAFFE troops consisting of 63,000 Filipino and 12,000
American soldiers, mostly suffering from disease and starvation.
Those soldiers were forced to march some 60 miles to their prison
camp at Camp O’Donnell in searing heat with barely any provisions
for food, water, shelter, or medicine. Those who could no longer
go on were beaten, bayoneted, shot, and some even beheaded by
their captors. Approximately 10,000 Filipino and 750 American
soldiers died along the way in what became known as the Bataan
Death March. Once inside Camp O’Donnell, another 20,000
Filipino and 1,600 American soldiers died. On May 6, 1942, Lt.
General Jonathan Wainwright, Commanding General of the United
States Forces in the Philippines, surrendered Corregidor and the
rest of the Philippines to General Masaharu Homma of the Japanese
Army; and

WHEREAS, From 1942 until 1945, Filipinos made up a majority
of the Guerrilla groups which laid the groundwork for the eventual
liberation of the Philippines which started on October 1944 with
the Leyte Landing and the Battle of Leyte Gulf and ended on
September 3, 1945, with the surrender of General Tomoyuki
Yamashita of the Japanese Army to the Allied Forces; and

WHEREAS, The Philippine nation suffered heavy casualties
from December 8, 1941, until September 3, 1945. Beginning in
1944, a systematic extermination of civilians (Zonas) and prisoners
of war took place all over the Philippines. During the Battle of
Manila between February and March 1945, approximately 100,000
civilians perished in Manila, many by massacres. By the end of
the war, approximately 1,000,000 civilians had perished in the
Philippines and Manila, once called the Pearl of the Orient, became
the second most devastated city during World War II after Warsaw,
Poland; and

WHEREAS, The men and women of the Philippines and United
States performed an invaluable service in defense of the United
States and Philippines from July 26, 1941, to December 31, 1946.
In the Philippines it consisted of the Philippine Scouts (part of the
Philippine Department), the Philippine Commonwealth Army,
Recognized Guerrillas, and the New Philippine Scouts. In the
United States, the First Filipino Infantry Regiment, 2nd Filipino
Infantry Battalion (Separate), and First Reconnaissance Battalion
were activated between July and October 1942, in California; and

WHEREAS, In February and May 1946, a great injustice was
inflicted on the Filipino soldiers with the passage of the First and
Second Surplus Rescission Acts, which deemed the service of the
organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth
of the Philippines including organized guerrilla forces, while such
forces were in the service of the United States Armed Forces
pursuant to the military order of the President dated July 26, 1941,
as not to have been active military, naval, or air service for the
purposes of any law of the United States conferring rights,
privileges, or benefits upon any person by reason of the service of
such person or the service of any other person in the United States
Armed Forces; now, therefore be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the California Legislature requests that
the Congress of the United States award the Congressional Gold
Medal to Filipino veterans of World War II in recognition of their
loyal and selfless duty to the Philippines and to the United States;
and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the
author for appropriate distribution.