AS FILIPINO AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH DRAWS NEAR IN OCTOBER, I POSTED SOME MORE PHOTOS TO DEPICT LIFE IN THE 1st & 2nd FILIPINO INFANTRY REGIMENTS, U.S. ARMY, 1942-1946: To fight a world war, however, the nation needed to call upon all its available manpower. On 21 December 1941 Congress amended the Selective Servi ce and Training Act to permit enlistment of citizens and “every other male person residing in the United States.” As a result, on 19 February 1942, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson announced the creation of a Filipino battalion to enable Americans of Filipino ancestry as well as resident Filipinos to serve together in the U.S. Army. On 1 April 1942, the War Department activated the 1st Filipino Battalion. Its existence proved short-lived. In July 1942 the soldiers transferred to the newly constituted 1st Filipino Regiment which replaced the battalion, and the new regiment activated on 13 July 1942 at the Salinas Rodeo Grounds, California. On 14 October 1942 the Army constituted a second regiment, designated as the 2nd Filipino Regiment. The 1st Battalion, 2nd Filipino Regiment, activated on 22 October 1942 at Fort Ord, California. On 27 March 1944 the 2nd Filipino Regiment was disbanded, and the 1st Battalion was concurrently reorganized and redesignated as the 2nd Filipino Battalion (Separate). From Fort Ord, elements of the 1st Filipino Regiment and the 2d Filipino Battalion (Separate) moved to Camps San Lus Obispo, Roberts, the Hunter-Liggett Military Reservation and Stoneman in California before embarking separately at the Port of Embarkation from Fort Mason in San Francisco for a two-week voyage to the South Pacific. Their destination would be the Pacific Southwest with New Guinea, Samar and Leyte in the Southern Philippines.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 07:53:43 +0000
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