How Filipino WWII Soldiers Were Written Out of History | Hacker News Reader

How Filipino WWII Soldiers Were Written Out of History

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My grandfather, while studying law in the Philippines was drafted to fight for the United States Armed Forces of the Far East (USAFFE) during WWII.

I guess he was part of the few that got US citizenship as he was able to bring his children and consequently his grandchildren (me) to America.

I am thankful for what he has done so I can live the life I have now. In return I try to contribute to society the way I know best by writing software for startups, SpaceX, and now EdgeCast.

I recently came into a collection of bank notes from various places and points in history. Among them was a small collection of Japanese Occupation era Philippine Bank Notes (Pesos, Centavos, etc.) which has lead me to start to investigate more into that time period and more about the places Japan occupied during the war. [1][2]

I have other banknotes from similar tumultuous times (Korean Yen, before and after revolution Russian and Soviet banknotes, same for Iran). I find it interesting that it seems one of the first things new governments do is find engravers, make high-quality engravings, and start printing new currency.

1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_government-issued_Phi...

2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasion_money

> The Philippines was a large American holding in the South Pacific

"holding"... looks to me like the whole history of the Philippines as a US colony has been written out of history.

Not really; anything that covers the Spanish-American war, MacArthur, WWII in the Pacific is going to talk a lot about it.

It's definitely got a section in The American Pageant, a textbook used for Advanced Placement US history in some high schools. I was aware of the counterinsurgency war but didn't know many specifics. I think I just assumed "It was like Vietnam, but with more racism, less press coverage, and consequently more murder of civilians."

I believe I remember also learning that Kipling published White Man's Burden at the same as a caution against that war.

I’m not sure I’d say it “got a section” in The American Pageant. The coverage is pretty slim and light on detail. There’s discussion of how atrocious the American military was, but with some “oh the Filipino soldiers did bad things to American soldiers and then the Americans retaliated” excuses thrown in.

It’s on pp 637–638 here: http://www.scuc.txed.net/webpages/cbaker/files/chapter%2027%...

And pp 646–647 here: http://www.scuc.txed.net/webpages/cbaker/files/chapter%2028%...

And page 807 here: http://www.scuc.txed.net/webpages/cbaker/files/chapter%2035%...

Huh. You're right. I must have read some stuff independently and assumed I was taught it in school.

I can't speak for your schools, but it was in my history classes as well as commonly mentioned in almost every book about World War II in the Pacific I've read.

I looked at probably two dozen American History and World History textbooks aimed at high school students, back when I was a high school student in ~2003, and none of them had more than a couple pages about US involvement in the Philippines, at the end of discussions of the Spanish–American war.

I think it’s safe to say that most Americans have little to no understanding of this history. Maybe “written out” is an exaggeration, but “quickly glossed over and afterward ignored” would be a fair summary.

> Americans have little to no understanding of this history.

That's different than 'written out of'.

Americans know little about the Astor expeditions to the Pacific Northwest, the Fremont expeditions, Californian independence and statehood, or any number of other things.

American textbooks spend large amounts of text recounting the horrors of European colonialism in Africa, India, China, the Americas. Likewise, some recent textbooks do a half–decent job of discussing slavery and the genocide of indigenous Americans. There’s usually extended coverage of e.g. the Korean and Vietnam wars. By contrast, American colonial occupation of the Philippines is glossed over in a few pages, as a footnote to the Spanish–American war.

Do you think high school history textbooks should have detailed coverage of the Astor expedition, etc.? Or if not, what’s your point?

I'm not sure the period gets that much critical attention in the Filipino curriculum either. I'm struggling to think of an ex-colonial power more culturally influential and admired than the US in the Philippines, and that's as a Brit who's been to quite a few of the better-run former British colonies.

I agree, Filipinos on the whole love the USA and I have asked a few younger Filipino-American immigrants about these topics and the most common response was a blank stare. I guess they haven't discovered the fallacy of the American dream yet either, they're just damn happy to be here.

Yes, the genocide of the Philippine-American War wasn't covered in the history classes in my high school curriculum. What is even more amazing is how many Filipinos were willing to fight on behalf of the Americans, only a generation after the U.S. slaughtered them.

And given what a terrible record the US has in neglecting veterans of all backgrounds, it isn't surprising that the brave men of the USAFFE were treated so poorly.

We should also remember that this was the era of the asinine anti-Asian immigration policies, another shameful topic only lightly covered in American history books. Effectively they were good enough to die for us, but not good enough for us to honor our promises to them.

Please don't overuse the word genocide, its was not a genocide.

I acknowledge your point, it is arguable whether it constituted genocide, some believe it to be so. Killing hundreds of thousands and placing them in concentration camps is ugly no matter what word is used though.

Reminiscent of the Indian contribution.

Yes and hopefully they will be able to convince education leaders to right the history books for all those who contributed to the success of the US and it allies.

India in WW2 is...complicated.

(Unless you meant the Native American contribution to the US WW2 effort -- the code talkers got a lot of the coverage there, especially since the Windtalkers movie)

One Sikh MP in the UK apparently got heckled to the effect "your granddad was not at Dunkirk" - As he said later No "He was fighting in Burma in the Indian Army"

The Sikh Regiment of the (British) Indian Army was amazing (and probably should be re-established in the British Army, in addition to the units in the modern Indian Army,) One of the most formidable and honorable military units of all time, completely loyal to the Allies.

The "complication" with India was the (Second) Indian National Army during WW2, following Subhas Chandra Bose, who were allied with the Axis. (They argued fighting colonialism was more important than fighting the Nazis and Imperial Japanese.)

The Indian 4th and 5th divisions were some of the best. 5th Indian was part of Operation Compass and both were involved part of the East African Campaign. Plus tons of other places.

Whoever said that, was a fucking idiot.

What about 1.3 million Africans? https://martinplaut.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/african-troops-...

I grew up in the Philippines knowing about the Bataan Death March. Not details, but the fact that it happened and the general idea of it. Now that I think about it, I didn't learn it at school, I learned it because it was taught to me by my older brothers and sisters, and it was likely taught to them because this is how our grandfather died.

Looking back now, I realize it was never taught to me in school. The only time I remember discussions about it was when I brought it up in a university discussion - after the teacher allowed us to research a topic of our own choosing and present on it.

Taiwanese soldiers who served under Japan share similar faith.

“The Bataan Death March has never, ever,” Gaerlan says, “been part of the history curriculum in American schools.” She also says it’s neglected in education in the Philippines.

Is this true? As a Canadian, it certainly got a mention in our (Grade 9? Grade 10?) social studies.

What provincial curriculum were you following? In Alberta, it was not covered at all.

British Columbia, 1983/1984. I'm struggling to remember whether it was Grade 9 or Grade 10 - it was in the section covering world war II. Mind blowingly boring, and the teacher was clearly just checking off all the bullet points in the curriculum, one after another. Horrible way to teach.

I'm wondering if that particular segment was dropped(or was added at one point) to the curriculum for propaganda purposes - certainly didn't make the Japanese sound like very nice people.

We covered in my 8th grade in my Soc. Studies/History class (in California, in the 80s), though maybe that was because the teacher was WW II obsessed. We watched a lot of films of WW II combat in the Pacific including bits of Corregidor falling to the Japanese as I recall and went over MacArthur's "I came out of Bataan and I shall return" speech, and watched a whole lot of films of combat with the teacher describing tracers and types of aircraft and talking about Kamikazes, so he might have just been a bit obsessed. Some HS history class went over the War in the Pacific too and covered the Philippines, though I can't recall if the Bataan Death March was mentioned.

It was covered in middle and high school for me, but that was the 70s.

On the plus side, I've trained with direct students of some of those amazing soldiers. I've heard a bunch of stories of epic bravery. There's an awesome heritage of stick and knife fighters that were just crazy brave.

Whose history? I certainly heard of them.

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