Congressional gold medal sought for the "Angels of Bataan and Corrigedor"

Filipino nurses tended to the wounded in the  WWII Battles of Bataan and Corrigidor.

Cecilia Gaerlan isn't just telling a story; she’s fighting for a legacy that almost stayed buried in the jungles of Bataan. 

As we mark another Bataan and Corrigidor Day (April 8 and May 6 respectively) honoring the memory of the men who fought against overwhelming odds at the start of WWII, there is a movement to bestow Congressional Gold Medals for the women who were also in the middle of those battles to slow the Imperial Army of Japan.

For the founder of the Bataan Legacy Historical Society, the push for a Congressional Gold Medal isn’t just about a piece of metal — it’s about ensuring that the Filipino nurses and nurses' aides who bled and starved alongside American GIs are finally written into the history books as the heroes they were.

        RELATED: Why we still honor the memory of the Bataan-Corregidor soldiers

When the original drafts of the "World War II Nurses Congressional Gold Medal Act" started circulating in D.C., Gaerlan noticed a glaring, familiar omission: the Asian American and Filipino women who served under the most brutal conditions of the Pacific Theater were missing. She didn't stay quiet.

American nurses were liberated from the Santo Tomas Internment Camp.

Thanks to her relentless lobbying, the current legislation now explicitly honors these women—the "Angels of Bataan and Corregidor"—who provided care in makeshift jungle hospitals and the dark, humid tunnels of Corregidor while being hunted by Japanese forces.

According to reporting by The 19th News, Cecilia Gaerlan of the Bataan Legacy Historical Society successfully lobbied to ensure Filipino and other Asian nurses are explicitly honored in the "World War II Nurses Congressional Gold Medal Act."

Bipartisan legislation is currently advancing in the 119th Congress, with S. 2195 introduced by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and H.R. 4901 by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), seeking to honor these women for their service in the Philippines.

Out of food, medicine and ammunition, 4,000 Americans and 64,000 Filipino soldiers surrendered
to the Japanese forces in the Battles of Bataan and Corrigedor. It remains as the largest surrender
of US military forces in history. Many died in the infamous Bataan Death March.

As they waited for reinforcements and medical supplies that never came, Filipino nurses, alongside US military nurses, treated thousands of soldiers during the 1942 retreat, battling malaria and dysentery with almost no supplies.

In Corrigidor's Malinta Tunnel, while American and Filipino soldiers and sailors fought a brave, but ultimately, a losing battle, the nurses created a  makeshift hospital to treat the American and Filipino wounded. 

The Filipino and other Asian women, -- some nurses and some volunteer civilians without medical training -- worked alongside American military nurses as Japanese artillery  pounded the island. fortress. They provided a  makeshift hospital was set up to treat the American and Filipino wounded. a lifeline to the wounded even as the ceiling crumbled around them.

Filipino nurses joined US nurses to tend to the US
casualties of the battle of Bataan and Corrigidor.

In the jungles of the Bataan Peninsula, Filiipino women stepped up as volunteer nurses' aides to care the wounded American and Filipino fighters.

After the fall of the Philippines, scores of these nurses and aides were herded into the Santo Tomas Internment Camp. For three years, they survived on starvation rations while continuing to run a functional hospital for their fellow captives.

Unlike the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) or the civilian women who worked in the US factories and shipyards, "Rosie the Riveters," WWII nurses have not yet collectively received this high civilian honor despite their critical role in keeping casualty rates below 4%.

For Gaerlan and the Filipino American community, this is about more than a medal. It’s about correcting a historical narrative that has long treated their contributions as a footnote. 

There's only a handful of these heroic women -- the Americans and Filipinos -- still alive, most of them over 100 years old. As Gaerlan often reminds lawmakers, these women were the first American women in combat—and they deserve to be remembered as the pioneers they were before the last of them are gone.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. 

State building to be named after pioneer woman politician

ASAM NEWS

Pioneering politician March Fong Eu will be the first woman in California to ever have a state building named after her.

The Secretary of State’s office in Sacramento will be named the March Fong Eu Secretary of State Building, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Eu served as Secretary of state from 1974 to 1994. Prior to that, she served four terms in the California State Assembly, becoming the first Asian American in the United States to serve in a state legislature.

Eu who died in 2017 at the age of 95 graduated from UC Berkeley.

” When she was secretary, all the divisions of the secretary of state’s office hadn’t been under the same roof in decades,” Caren Daniels Lagomarsino, Eu’s longtime press spokesperson, told Berkeley.edu. 

“The building was a longtime goal of March Fong Eu. It’s kind of a shame she never got to work in it; during her time, the department was spread out over three different buildings.”

The idea of honoring Eu with the naming of the building came from current Secretary of State Alex Padilla in 2018. He announced his intentions during the memorial for Eu, reported Berekeley.edu. earlier this month, Women's History Month.

Eu gained notoriety when she smashed a toilet with a sledgehammer to symbolize her opposition to paid toilets.

March Fong Eu's campaign to end paid toilets in California was exemplified by this feat.

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Meet Sugar Pie DeSanto, legendary blues singer and song writer

I HAVE TO TELL YOU, I watched this video of legendary blues singer Sugar Pie DeSanto and I broke out in a great big smile. With all the divisiveness and turmoil in our country, anything that can help lift that weight off our shoulders is a welcome relief. Right? 

March is Women's History Month and NBC ran an article about four standout Asian/American women that we've never heard about that included a short paragraph on DeSanto. The other women NBC featured were:

• Afong Moy, one of the first Chinese women to immigrate to the U.S.
• Anandi Gopal Joshi, the first woman from India to study medicine in the U.S.
• Patsy Takemoto Mink, one of the first Asian/American women to serve in Congress.

A legendary blues singer, Sugar Pie DeSanto was born Umpeylia Marsema Balinton in 1935 to an African/American mother and Filipino father. Originally named after her Filipina grandmother, Johnny Otis dubbed her "Little Miss Sugar Pie" in 1955, and not because she had a sweet tooth or liked to bake. "While we were in the studio he named me Sugar Pie," DeSanto recalled in an interview, "Because I was so little. I wore a size three shoe and I weighed about 85 pounds. I was very tiny." 

Her hits "Baby, What You Want Me To Do?," "Soulful Dress," and "Rock Me Baby" would help DeSanto establish what one critic for NPR called her persona of "an assertive young woman who took no mess."

That would be enough to gain most singers a reasonable slice of glory, but DeSanto also happens to be a hilarious comedienne, a show-stopping dancer, and a superb and highly original songwriter. She's written over 100 songs, some of which have been cut by Fontella Bass, Billy Stewart, Little Milton, Bobby McClure, Minnie Riperton, Jesse James, the Dells, and the Whispers. 

DeSanto, a resident of Oakland, California, was honored with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 2008.

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Tibetan soccer team denied entry to U.S.

Members of the Tibet Women's Soccer Team.

THE EVER-SHIFTING and uneven enforcement of who can, and cannot, enter the U.S. has claimed another victim: The Tibet Women's Soccer team.

Fifteen players of a Tibetan women’s soccer team have been refused U.S. visas as guests of a Texas tournament, raising questions about what policy Donald Trump will take toward the contested region.

The team, Tibet Women’s Soccer, made up of refugees living in India and Nepal, had planned to take part in this spring’s Dallas Cup tournament for young players,. The tournament has a tradition of inviting players from other countries to promote diversity. In the past, it has hosted a Catholic-Protestant team from Ireland and a Muslim-Jewish team from Israel.

Cassie Childers, the executive director and one of the coaches of Tibet Women's Soccer and a U.S. citizen, accompanied the group of 16 players for interviews at the embassy on Feb. 24. Most of the team members are refugees (18 to 20-years old) from Tibet, which China claims is a protectorate of the Peoples' Republic of China.

After a few questions of each player, Embassy officials in Delhi told he players that they did not merit permission to take the 10-day trip. Childers said the only explanation given: ‘You have no good reason to travel to the USA."
“What they said is we don’t have strong reasons to go to Dallas,” said Jamyang Chotso, a team captain. “But I think this is not the reason for them to reject us. [We] think the reason is they think we might run away when we reach there.”

“For a footballer, football is not just a game,” she added. “Through football I can represent my country and through football I can inspire our girls.”

In response to media inquiries, the State Department said that it could not comment on individual visa applications, nor on the Trump administration’s policy toward Tibet, an autonomous region with a history of strained relations with China. 

Tibetans have a difficult time getting U.S. visas because the American government is afraid that once in the U.S., Tibetans would request asylum.

“They weren’t trying to immigrate,” Childers told The Guardian. “They were trying to play soccer.”

Complicating the situation was that Tibet Women's Soccer is a charity and does not officially represent the Tibetan government-in-exile, explained the Tibetan National Sports Association.

"TNSA is the only sports authority recognized by the Tibetan government, and all invitations to our official teams are processed through the relevant TNSA and government authorities," the TNSA stated. "We did not know about the invitation from Dallas."

Upon hearing about the girls' difficulties, the Dallas Cup issued a statement clarifying that the Dallas Cup is a tournament for boys and the Tibetan team was never going to compete in the tournament. The invitation to Dallas and to participate in related activities was at the behest of Dallas is Diversity, the charitable arm of the tournament.

"If (the Tibetans visit is) not possible in 2017, then we hope the girls can realize their dream of visiting the North Texas area at some point in the future," said the statement.

Childers said that the team’s invitation to the tournament was “a dream come true” for the players, and although initially disappointed, they are all right.

"The players are very positive. I was very dejected but they motivated me, said Childers. "I hope some other place will invite us where Tibetans are welcomed."

“The U.S. had an opportunity to play host to one of the most inspiring groups of young women on this planet today,” Childers, wrote on a fundraising page. “The United States of America failed today. Utterly.”