Book chronicles Pinoy's life in US Navy
By RODNEY J. JALECO
ABS-CBN North America News Bureau
NORFOLK, Virginia - Living in the shadows of the sprawling home port of the US Navy’s Atlantic Fleet are the “uncles” of the burgeoning Filipino-American community here.
Book cover of "In Our Uncles Words."
They are the subject of a new book, “In Our Uncles’ Words”, which chronicles the life and experiences of 34 pioneering Filipinos in the US Navy, who now serve as pillars of the 45,000-strong Fil-Am community in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
In 1901, US President William McKinley signed an executive order that allowed the enlistment of 500 Filipinos to the US Navy. The recruitment was momentarily halted when the US granted Philippine independence in 1946. But in March of the following year, the US Navy resumed the enlistment of young Filipinos in Cavite and Olongapo, nearly all of them just in their teens.
At the time, Filipinos were recruited for one main task – to work as stewards for senior officers. Some were eventually assigned to kitchen duties or cleaning decks or any of the menial but necessary jobs needed to keep US Navy ships in tip-top shape.
By 1952, the US Navy had raised the ceiling for recruitment of Filipinos to 1,000 a year, doubling that number by 1954. But they exceeded that quota only once, in 1968 when the US Navy got a total of 2,146 Filipino recruits.
A group of Filipinos at the US Navy base in San Diego, California, circa 1950s.
Lamberto Martin, the eldest “uncle” in the group, joined the US Navy in 1930. He was at Pearl Harbor, he says, when the Japanese started hostilities in World War II. When the US armada launched its counter-invasion in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Martin was aboard an oil tender that refueled the American warships in that epic naval battle. He says one of his most unforgettable moments with the US Navy was when he joined the American’s triumphant parade in his hometown of Lubao, Pampanga after Luzon was liberated from the Japanese.
Discrimination, he said, was prevalent at the onset of the Filipinos’ involvement with the US Navy. But he says, Filipinos got it slightly better, compared to black sailors.
The guns of USS Wisconsin.
“Aboard our ship, Filipinos and colored people shared a common compartment, separated from the whites,” Martin recounted. “We had different restrooms, but the Filipinos could use the whites' restrooms but the blacks could not,” he remembers amusedly.
Allan Simbulan, now a real estate consultant in Virginia Beach, joined the US Navy in the early 50’s. “Meron pa rin discrimination,” he says, “Di na maalis yun, nasa dugo na ng Kano yan.”
We asked why and him how he was able to tolerate the discrimination for the more than 20 years he served in the US Navy?
“Kamukha rin ng pagtitiis ng mga kasama nating OFW sa Saudi yan. Wala naman tayong pagkunan kaya nagtiis na lang kami,” Simbulan averred.
But he stressed he had no regrets the day he walked into the US Navy recruitment office in Sangley Point, Cavite. He’s become an American citizen and was able to bring many of his relatives to the US as immigrants. And he has a monthly pension.
Justo Manglicmot joined the US Navy in December 1953. He was able to work with a panel formed precisely to study and formulate ways to stop racial discrimination in the ranks. As a result, he declared, “marami ng second-generation Pinoys and Pinays who’ve managed to enter the service academies. Saka nakakapasok na rin ang mga immigrants or green-card holders. May oportunidad na pumasok sa specialty ratings, di tulad sa amin dati na panay stewards.”
A US Navy drydock in Norfolk, Virginia.
Filipinos in the US Navy continued to be limited to the steward positions as late as 1974.
Manglicmot’s son Allan Paul qualified to enter the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He graduated in 1983 but opted to join the US Marines. After six years, the young Manglicmot left active service to pursue a degree in nuclear engineering. He is now a civilian, but still works for the US Naval Shipyards.
Dr. Manuel Hipol is a rarity. He reached the rank of Navy Captain, the equivalent of a colonel in the army or airforce.
“I myself felt discrimination even though I was already an officer,” he recounted. “However, you just have to prove yourself equal or better than the other offices or else you will not get any respect,” he explained.
And that is exactly what the “uncles” of Virginia believe they have earned through decades of hard work, sacrifice and a relentless pursuit of self-improvement.
After they retired from the US Navy, hundreds of them decided to settle in this area, near the sea. They have become one of the fastest growing Fil-Am communities, built out of the sacrifices and dreams of former naval seafarers who’ve finally decided to settle on land.
ABS-CBN North America News Bureau
NORFOLK, Virginia - Living in the shadows of the sprawling home port of the US Navy’s Atlantic Fleet are the “uncles” of the burgeoning Filipino-American community here.
Book cover of "In Our Uncles Words."
They are the subject of a new book, “In Our Uncles’ Words”, which chronicles the life and experiences of 34 pioneering Filipinos in the US Navy, who now serve as pillars of the 45,000-strong Fil-Am community in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
In 1901, US President William McKinley signed an executive order that allowed the enlistment of 500 Filipinos to the US Navy. The recruitment was momentarily halted when the US granted Philippine independence in 1946. But in March of the following year, the US Navy resumed the enlistment of young Filipinos in Cavite and Olongapo, nearly all of them just in their teens.
At the time, Filipinos were recruited for one main task – to work as stewards for senior officers. Some were eventually assigned to kitchen duties or cleaning decks or any of the menial but necessary jobs needed to keep US Navy ships in tip-top shape.
By 1952, the US Navy had raised the ceiling for recruitment of Filipinos to 1,000 a year, doubling that number by 1954. But they exceeded that quota only once, in 1968 when the US Navy got a total of 2,146 Filipino recruits.
A group of Filipinos at the US Navy base in San Diego, California, circa 1950s.
Lamberto Martin, the eldest “uncle” in the group, joined the US Navy in 1930. He was at Pearl Harbor, he says, when the Japanese started hostilities in World War II. When the US armada launched its counter-invasion in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Martin was aboard an oil tender that refueled the American warships in that epic naval battle. He says one of his most unforgettable moments with the US Navy was when he joined the American’s triumphant parade in his hometown of Lubao, Pampanga after Luzon was liberated from the Japanese.
Discrimination, he said, was prevalent at the onset of the Filipinos’ involvement with the US Navy. But he says, Filipinos got it slightly better, compared to black sailors.
The guns of USS Wisconsin.
“Aboard our ship, Filipinos and colored people shared a common compartment, separated from the whites,” Martin recounted. “We had different restrooms, but the Filipinos could use the whites' restrooms but the blacks could not,” he remembers amusedly.
Allan Simbulan, now a real estate consultant in Virginia Beach, joined the US Navy in the early 50’s. “Meron pa rin discrimination,” he says, “Di na maalis yun, nasa dugo na ng Kano yan.”
We asked why and him how he was able to tolerate the discrimination for the more than 20 years he served in the US Navy?
“Kamukha rin ng pagtitiis ng mga kasama nating OFW sa Saudi yan. Wala naman tayong pagkunan kaya nagtiis na lang kami,” Simbulan averred.
But he stressed he had no regrets the day he walked into the US Navy recruitment office in Sangley Point, Cavite. He’s become an American citizen and was able to bring many of his relatives to the US as immigrants. And he has a monthly pension.
Justo Manglicmot joined the US Navy in December 1953. He was able to work with a panel formed precisely to study and formulate ways to stop racial discrimination in the ranks. As a result, he declared, “marami ng second-generation Pinoys and Pinays who’ve managed to enter the service academies. Saka nakakapasok na rin ang mga immigrants or green-card holders. May oportunidad na pumasok sa specialty ratings, di tulad sa amin dati na panay stewards.”
A US Navy drydock in Norfolk, Virginia.
Filipinos in the US Navy continued to be limited to the steward positions as late as 1974.
Manglicmot’s son Allan Paul qualified to enter the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He graduated in 1983 but opted to join the US Marines. After six years, the young Manglicmot left active service to pursue a degree in nuclear engineering. He is now a civilian, but still works for the US Naval Shipyards.
Dr. Manuel Hipol is a rarity. He reached the rank of Navy Captain, the equivalent of a colonel in the army or airforce.
“I myself felt discrimination even though I was already an officer,” he recounted. “However, you just have to prove yourself equal or better than the other offices or else you will not get any respect,” he explained.
And that is exactly what the “uncles” of Virginia believe they have earned through decades of hard work, sacrifice and a relentless pursuit of self-improvement.
After they retired from the US Navy, hundreds of them decided to settle in this area, near the sea. They have become one of the fastest growing Fil-Am communities, built out of the sacrifices and dreams of former naval seafarers who’ve finally decided to settle on land.
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