Promise Kept--50 Years Later : Immigrants: Finally, 165 Filipino veterans who fought alongside U.S. forces in World War II become citizens.

Solomon Astrera stood in the rain in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday morning showing off faded snapshots of himself as a gangly, teen-age guerrilla in Philippine jungles during World War II.

To anyone who wanted to look, he also displayed an official list mailed to him last year of the honors--a Bronze Star and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal--he won for his military service.

But he was most proud of the crisp new certificate he had just picked up on the third floor of the Federal Courthouse after he and 164 other Filipino veterans were sworn in as citizens of the United States.

The swearings-in fulfilled a promise the U.S. government made long ago to the veterans: If they fought alongside American forces in the war against Japan, they would be made American citizens.

Nearly half a century later, after a sometimes bitter lobbying campaign, the promise is finally being kept. And Astrera, now 61 and at last an American, had only good things to say about his new homeland.

“I am so happy,” he said, as he clutched his citizenship certificate and beamed. “Since I was a child I loved this country.”

The swearings-in took place in three courtrooms before three judges. They were made possible by immigration legislation signed 13 months ago by President Bush. Although some Filipino veterans have been sworn in since then, it was the first time that large numbers were naturalized at one time in the Los Angeles area.

Later this month, 600 veterans who live in the Philippines will be flown to Los Angeles for interviews that could lead to their naturalizations.

The promise of citizenship was first made to the Filipinos in 1941 in an executive order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Thousands of men--and some women who served in medical units--rushed to join American forces. Many fought on as guerrillas after Gen. Douglas MacArthur retreated from the islands in 1942.

But when the war ended and the veterans sought to make good on the promise made to them, the U.S. government bowed to pressure from the Filipino government, which did not want to lose so many young men in its work force.

Roosevelt’s order expired in 1946, setting off a legal battle that ended in 1986 with the expiration being upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, said Dan Hesse of the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Los Angeles office.

The veterans and organizations representing them launched a letter-writing and lobbying campaign that brought them victory. A special provision of the 1990 law allows the veterans to live in the Philippines.

On Thursday, the 164 men and one woman veteran were joined by scores of relatives and well-wishers. Some wore tiny American flags in the vest pockets of their jackets as they marched single file from the INS office at the courthouse to the courtrooms where they took their oaths.

Astrera, a former policeman in the Quezon province of Luzon, wore a military field cap festooned with his medals.

After District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. declared him and the others citizens, Astrera turned to the veteran next to him and pumped the man’s hand enthusiastically. “Congratulations,” he said.