Filipinos Korean War Military Service

Home
Names A-E
Names F-Z
Useful Info
Guest webpage: DNA Project of the Barkers
Guest webpage: Peftok
Guest webpage: Peftok Memorial
Guest webpage: Peftok & the Media
Guest webpage: Peftok Project of the Barkers
Guest webpage: Filipinos in Korea
Guest webpage: Koreans in the Philippines

 “Identification with our nation’s history will foster assimilation and participation in common goals that promote good citizenship and civic involvement”

 

This website is dedicated to all soldiers of Pilipino descent who served in the United States military during the Korean War. The mission of this website is to reclaim our forgotten military history and heritage in the United States Armed Forces.

We start with the name list of our Pilipino Korean War Veterans from their respective home state of (military) record or state of residence. Many of the initial listings will come from the State of Hawaii, since my first project is about Pilipinos in Hawaii

 

http://filipinosgone2hawaii.tripod.com


Included in this website are guest webpages  for the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea (Peftok) consisting of the five Philippine Army Battalion Combat Teams (BCT) who fought in the war from 1950 to 1953 attached to U.S. military command and subsequently provided police force during the armistice period from 1954 to 1955 under the United Nations military command. Seven thousand Pilipino soldiers had served in the 10th, 20th, 19th, 14th, 2nd (BCT), had suffered 468 casualties (112 died; 356 wounded) and had won 600 military medals or decorations during the war and the armistice. Philippine Army officers included Lt. Fidel V. Ramos, the future President of the Philippines. War journalists included Benigno Aquino, the future husband of President Corazon Aquino and Atty. Johnny F. Villasanta, twice recipient of Philippines Legion of Honor. Everyone is encourage to visit

 

www.geocities.com/peftok

 

for a much more detailed and well-written information about the Korean War than my own website could ever provide. Art Villasanta, the website owner is the historian and tireless advocate who kept his father’s war from being forgotten.

 

Since, the Philippines is the host country of the U.S. military bases, the role that the Pilipinos  played in the wars that involved Asian countries like Japan, Korea & Vietnam can not and should not be ignored. This awareness of our unique history is the responsibility of every living Pilipino. I offer you this website as a limited resource for the Korean War. It is my hope that my love for the Philippines history and culture overcome my lack of scholarly credential.

 

######################################################

Korean War Family DNA Needed - Korean War Project

All Names Listed Need Family DNA Sample For Possible Future ID

For more info Enter Here  http://www.koreanwar.org
  or
Here>>>Finding The Families: The Search For Korean War MIA/POW Family DNA Samples
http://www.kwp.org/html/finding_the_families.html

This is a humanitarian project of Hal & Ted Barker of
http://www.koreanwar.org

the most comprehensive Korean War Casualty database

##################################################

Primary Sources:

www.archives.gov/research/korean-war/casualty-lists

http://www.korean.org/html/a_filipino.html

http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov

also, databases of various cemeteries with war veterans burials

 

 

Secondary Sources:

www.fanhs-national.org

(websites maintained by chapters of Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS)

founded 11/1982 by Drs. Fred & Dorothy Cordova in Seattle Washington)

http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com

http://ancestry.com

http://filipinosgone2hawaii.tripod.com

http://clusty.com

www.wikipedia.org

 

 

 

This website will always be a work in progress.

For additions or corrections pls send an e-mail to:

pinay_492001@yahoo.com

 

 

FAIR USE

Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner

THE GRAY BEFORE THE DAWN

The mist hangs like a dirty drape -
    Formless shapes struggle to escape -                  
Lying on my back - stands of water on three sides.
    Swirls - like tidal pools when I was a kid -
Life teeming in a little world - star fish -squid -
    Sand all over my weapon - none to play with.
My boots are wet - my feet are cold -
    What am I doing here - am I to grow old?
Thunder in the sky - planes flying by -
    Can't see them - clouds hung out to dry.
Don't sleep much - we're in for a big one -
    Waiting for the dawn - waiting for the Sun.
This is an odd place -
    Everyone with the same face -
Can't drink the water - rations are poor -
    Bed down at night - the earth for a floor.
Complain? - can't do that - my choice - I enlisted
    Could have listened to the old folks - as they insisted.
Mortar rounds screaming overhead -
    Sickening thud! - giant craters - filled with the dead.
Had a girl back home -she's waiting -
    Last moments - gave her a gentle kiss - parting.
I thought that I would be forever young -
    But within a week my hair turned  - I've been stung.
The Sun is up - parting the Gray
    We are sons and daughters of prey -
Our minds buried in this mire -
    Here they come!   - HELL IS ON FIRE!!!

Ernest A. Botti 
eabotti@comcast.net

Formerly 1st Lt. USAF
339th/319th Fighter Squadrons All Weather-Korea
Poem copied from this excellent website:
http://www.koreanwar.org