Includes bibliographical references (pages 716-742).

Dedication 3 -- Preface -- Acknowledgments 6 -- I. U.S. Nationals 9 -- II. The Resistance 21 -- III. A Filipino Battalion 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment 35 -- IV. 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment New Guinea and The Philippine Islands 77 -- V. A Filipino Battalion 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiment 103 -- VI. Top Secret 121 -- VII. The Radio -- VIII. Ist Reconnaissance Battalion Paratroopers 181 -- IX. Negros Island 189 -- X. Mindanao Island February 1943-March 1944 219 -- XI. Mindanao Island March 1944-June 1945 233 -- XII. Panay Island 277 -- XIII. Mindoro Island 291-- XIV. Samar Island 329 -- XV. Palawan Island 367 -- XVI. Leyte Island 391 -- XVII. Luzon Island, Northern Area 397 -- XVIII. Luzon Island, Central Area 417 -- XIX. Cebu Island 451 -- XX. Philippine Civil Affairs Unit (PCAU) Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) 457 -- XXI. Luzon Island Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp 497 -- XXII. Luzon Island Los Baños Prisoner of War Camp 497 -- XXIII. Aftermath 533 -- XXIV. My Journey 557 -- Appendix A 565 -- Appendix B 631 -- Chapter Sources 716 -- Sources 729 -- Images 743.

"1941. December. At almost eight in the morning, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that ended with thousands of American casualties. Less than ten hours after, the Japanese invasion of the Philippines began. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dubbed the attack "the date that will live in infamy." It was the mainspring for the entry of the United States into World War II and catalyzed the formation of the US. Army's First Filipino Battalion. With the Philippines attacked, Filipinos living in the United States of America up and volunteered for the military burning with the desire to return to their motherland and repel the enemy. I wondered why they joined when their entire life in California was debased with systemic and rampant anti-Filipino sentiment and legislation. What complicated patriotism bad made my father and thousands of Filipino men in America volunteer into the Army despite decades of borrible inequities inflicted upon them? Was it even worth it? The First Filipino Battalion was formed, and around 7,000 eagerly volunteered. From the unit came the First and Second Infantry Regiments that returned with the liberation forces. From the Regiments formed the First Reconnaissance Battalion (Special) and the 978th Signal Service Company, secret military units highly trained and known only to General Douglas MacArthur and a few of his staff. Why were these suicidal missions sent to the Philippines in the two years before his return? And why were they a secret? Discovering that my father was a member of this clandestine unit, I was compelled to find out. But the secrecy of the covert missions to the islands challenged the creation of their chronological history, Large gaps about their exploits in the Philippines had to be filled in largely from guerrilla records to complete their story. The children of the men who were so proud of their fathers, shared their stories that fleshed out the daunting experiences they underwent in the jungles of the islands. In the hunt for information, my family expanded with the wonderful discovery of my other siblings, Isabel and Saturnino Jr., that kept the momentum in me. I like to say that my father was a busy man during the war. To be clear, depending on the events, I sometimes write "Caucasian" or "White" soldiers to differentiate and give proper credit to the Filipino soldiers in their missions and assignments.The lives of the Filipinos of my father's generation in America, reaching for a better future, was of exceptional hardship, pain, and sacrifice in a time of intolerance and racism. It had to take a war to slowly break the ignorance, to make them "equal" and enable their own triumphs to emerge. What they underwent begat better opportunities for the Filipinos in America. I wrote this book thinking of my father and the men. I had to tell their story." -- from the Preface.

Junior High School Araling Panlipunan (AP)

In English.