Not Forgotten

Dulcesimo Habal earned his Distinguished Service Cross hunkered over an Army radio in a concrete bunker 56 years ago.

His company had retreated from advancing Japanese troops in the Philippine countryside, but Habal and his assistant remained behind enemy lines, frantically cranking a generator and relaying crucial information to the main line of defense.

Habal is now a frail 84-year-old who spends his days alone at his son’s house in Carson. He retired from the Army decades ago, his wife has long since died, diabetes has crippled him.

But now, the native Filipino who received the Army’s second-highest medal for valor may be in line for an upgrade.

Army researchers are poring over the records of Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans who received Distinguished Service Crosses in World War II.

A military awards board will use its findings to determine whether discrimination prevented Habal and other soldiers from receiving the nation’s highest military honor--the Medal of Honor.

Congress allocated $500,000 in 1996 to search for candidates who might have deserved the Medal of Honor more than 50 years ago.

Of more than 150,000 Asian American and Pacific Islanders fighting under U.S. command in World War II, one Japanese American and one Filipino received the medal.

Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) led the push to reexamine the military records, inspired by a 1993 investigation into the Army’s failure to award a single Medal of Honor to any of the more than 1 million African Americans who fought in World War II. That study resulted in seven black veterans receiving the medal--all but one post-humously--from President Clinton last year.

Akaka said the internment of Japanese Americans was a clear indication of bias against them during the war. He concluded that a study similar to the one done on black veterans is needed for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

“Just because [other groups] weren’t interned, doesn’t mean they weren’t tarred by the same brush of anti-Japanese hysteria,” said Paul Cardus, Akaka’s press secretary.

The Army and Navy, the only two military branches at the time, have begun investigations.

The Navy finished its study in July, having identified one Hawaiian native who received the Navy Cross, the equivalent of the Distinguished Service Cross. But he was not upgraded to the Medal of Honor.

So far, Army historians, working out of the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, have identified about 100 Asian and Pacific Islander veterans who received the Distinguished Service Cross.

The historians have almost completed reexamining Asian American records and have begun the more difficult search for Filipinos and Filipino Americans. They have found 55, many of whom never came to this country. But there may be more.

The researchers said they have detected no blatant discrimination in the awards process.

During World War II, 382 medals of honor were awarded. About 4,740 Distinguished Service Crosses were awarded, but no official records were kept of recipients.

Habal, who still wears an Army crew cut, said the Medal of Honor would be great recognition for his unit of Philippine Scouts, an elite corps that fought under U.S. command. But getting the medal is something he wishes he could have shared with his first wife, he said. She lived through the war in the Philippines, he said, and understood the tribulations he endured.

“I’m nearly dead,” Habal said. “It would be hard to enjoy it at this late age. It’s something that should have been done a long time ago.”

His assistant, Apolonio Rinen, also received the Distinguished Service Cross. Rinen, 81, lives in Rancho Cucamonga with his wife and near most of his 10 children. He said he doesn’t know if he deserves the award but that he would welcome it.

“I wouldn’t care if I got it on the last day of my life,” he said, “so my children would be proud of me.”

Habal said during the war that he would not accept the Distinguished Service Cross unless the medal was also given to Rinen. He says he will not accept the Medal of Honor unless Rinen gets one too.

*

Two other candidates live in California: Young Kim, a Korean American in Gardena, and Henry Arao, a Japanese American in Santa Cruz. Another, Hoichi Kubo, died Feb. 2 in San Jose. A handful of others are living in this country, including Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), and several are alive in the Philippines.

The Army study of World War II medals began in March and initially focused on Japanese Americans, who mostly fought in the segregated, highly decorated 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Europe. Many Japanese American veterans groups had compiled the records and presented them to the researchers.

But about half of the candidates for the Medal of Honor are Filipinos--soldiers who, like Habal, fought some of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific and often are overlooked in American history.

“The island campaigns were particularly vicious,” said Army historian and researcher Jay Price. “This was not soldiers marching across a battlefield. This was guerrilla warfare. This was snipers hidden in caves.”

About 1 million Filipino soldiers and civilians, or 8% of the Philippine population, were killed during the war, Price said.

Efforts to recognize the Filipino soldiers’ valor emerges at a time when some Filipino veterans--such as those who have camped out in MacArthur Park since June--are demanding the full benefits they were promised during the war.

That promise was revoked when the United States granted independence to the Philippines in 1946 and Congress passed the Recision Act, giving full benefits only to those Filipinos, such as Habal, who moved to the United States.

“The whole question of the Medal of Honor and World War II vets kind of reopens the benefits issue,” Price said. “If they’re getting these high medals, why aren’t they getting something else?”

A bill that would restore those benefits has attracted 182 co-sponsors in Congress, short of the 218 votes it needs to bring it before the full House for a vote, said Rep. Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista), the bill’s sponsor.

Army researchers face a daunting task because in many cases records were not kept or were hastily destroyed as U.S. forces evacuated the Philippines. Keeping records that detailed heroic acts might have jeopardized the Filipino soldiers during the Japanese occupation, Price said.

“A lot of the records were buried,” Price said. Others may have been lost during bombing by the Japanese, he added.

To identify Distinguished Service Cross recipients, researchers are scanning old newspapers, books and documents at the National Archives and the Army’s records in St. Louis.

Without the written recommendation of a commanding officer explaining why a soldier deserved the Distinguished Service Cross, it might be difficult to determine who deserves the Medal of Honor.

Other problems stem from the complexity of the fighting in the Philippines.

After the U.S. left in 1942, the Philippine scouts and the Philippine army, also under U.S. command, disbanded. Some soldiers were captured and others joined guerrilla movements.

Some guerrillas were nationalists fighting both U.S. and Japanese occupation, but others were recognized by the United States and took orders from Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters. Some guerrillas even received Distinguished Service Crosses after the war.

But because there are few rosters of guerrilla troops and many Filipino surnames are Spanish, researchers find it difficult to determine from archives which Distinguish Service Cross recipients are Filipino.

Habal was easy to identify because he came to the United States after the war, was alive and reachable by phone. He had remained in the military until 1965. He fought in Korea and became an officer.

After 30 years of service, that day behind enemy lines in January 1942 still burns in his memory, he said.

The water was clear and cool when he had to ford three rivers where the bridges had been blown out. He remembers the echoes of gunfire. He remembers his return to camp, the party and the pats on the back.

“They were proud of me,” he said. He said he never considered discrimination a factor in his not getting the Medal of Honor, but he has come to believe that he might deserve the award.

“My purpose was to alert the main line of resistance,” he said. “There were half a million people sleeping there. Had it not been for my radio, they would have been massacred by the Japanese. They forgot that in the award.”

Habal fought on the Bataan Peninsula until the Americans were defeated in May 1942 at Corregidor.

*

After U.S. troops left, Habal was forced to march with thousands of prisoners of war 60 miles to internment camps during the infamous Bataan death march, which claimed 10,000 lives.

“If you couldn’t walk, they’d get the bayonet and kill you right there,” Habal said.

Habal escaped the march when Japanese guards weren’t looking and joined the guerrillas for the duration of the war.

His assistant Rinen also escaped the march and formed his own guerrilla unit in Quezon. With his radio equipment, he communicated directly with MacArthur’s forces in Australia.

“The submarines used to come to my place to deliver arms and supplies to my company,” Rinen said.

Rinen became a U.S. citizen after the war and, like Habal, fought in Korea. He said he and many of his fellow Filipino soldiers were so loyal to the Americans that they never thought about discrimination.

“Filipinos didn’t know about discrimination,” he said. “Whatever they ordered me to do, it was all right. I was ordered to serve to the best of my ability, and that’s what I was doing.”