October is Filipino American History Month, and it’s worth reflecting on the many ways the contributions of the fourth-largest immigrant group in the United States have strengthened our great country.
More than 4 million people of Philippine origin live in the United States. San Antonio, home to large military, health care and tourism hubs, all of which traditionally have had sizable Filipino workforces, is home to a large and vibrant Filipino American community.
As Military City, USA, San Antonio is in a unique position to appreciate Filipinos’ service in the U.S. military. According to the Filipino American National Historical Society, more than 5,000 Filipinos served in the U.S. Navy during World War I, and more than 260,000 Filipinos and Filipino Americans fought alongside the U.S. military during World War II. As of 2018, the Philippines and Mexico were the top two countries of birth for the 527,000 immigrant veterans at the time.
Perfecto Medenilla Ortiz, my uncle, joined the U.S. Navy from the Philippines through the steward program in the late 1960s. Stewards were limited to service as cooks, waiters and cabin boys to Navy officers, yet thousands of Filipino men joined for a chance at their American dream.
My uncle’s service was a tradition I was proud to carry on in the Air Force, and my younger sister is a proud member of the Navy’s “Filipino Mafia,” serving as a “Red Rope,” or a drill instructor, at the Navy’s Recruit Training Command north of Chicago.
It was during a visit to Great Lakes last November that I learned the Navy was the only military service actively assisting non-U.S. citizen recruits to earn their citizenship while at basic training. Then serving as the undersecretary of the Air Force, I charged our team with restarting that program for our recruits at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. As a first-generation Filipino American, I’m proud to see that…
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