My name is Manuel Braga, and I was born in the Philippines. I come from the southern region of Luzon.
I was a young man when World War II broke out. At the age of 16 I joined the guerrillas and fought with them from 1942 to 1945. The guerrillas were the soldiers who had been captured by the Japanese and escaped. I later joined the Philippine Scouts from 1946 to 1949.
The Philippines was a territory of the United States, which made us all American nationals. We were given independence in July 1946. I was proud to be fighting for the United States because I believed in its cause. The U.S. government told me and many other Filipinos who fought alongside me that we would be treated like American veterans after the war and given the same benefits. This made our contribution to the war significant. Imagine — we would be treated like Americans!
I decided to leave the Philippines to live in the United States in 1992. That is the year that I arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii. That is the same year that I officially became an American when I took my oath as a naturalized citizen. I applied for a job and got hired to work at the airport as an identification checker. My health, however, has kept me from working. Twenty days after my first day at work, I collapsed and have been unable to work ever since.
Today I am 80 years old and still fighting. As an American citizen, I am working to bring justice to the Filipino veterans. There are 7,000 of us living in the U.S. and 13,000 still living in the Philippines. We were all promised full benefits as veterans, but in 1945, soon after the war, Congress passed a bill that rescinded that promise to me and so many of my countrymen. We believe that this is an injustice against Filipinos. To win this battle, I joined the Filipino World War II Veterans Federation of San Diego County. I became the commander of this group after the founder passed away.
Story from We Are California: Stories of Immigraiton and Change
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