All over the world in different countries, cultures, tongues, and colors are people who have the same basic desire for happiness and respect from his fellow men. We are the same all over as members of the human race. If we honor each other's boundaries with propriety and consideration our voyage thru life can be rich in knowledge and friendship..........AMOR PATRIAE
All over the world in different countries, cultures, tongues, and colors are people who have the same basic desire for happiness and respect from his fellow men. We are the same all over as members of the human race. If we honor each other's boundaries with propriety and consideration our voyage thru life can be rich in knowledge and friendship..........AMOR PATRIAE
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
In 1915, a Filipino sailor ran back into a burning boiler room and earned the U.S. Navy's highest honor as an engine-room fireman. No Filipino has matched it since. Because within a few years, that same Navy had quietly decided a Filipino recruit's only real qualification was serving officers their dinner.
This is the story of how that door slammed shut, and stayed shut for over fifty years. How Philippine independence in 1946 didn't end the pipeline, it renewed it by treaty. How 100,000 men once competed for 2,000 slots, aced the entrance exams, and were sent to the galley anyway. How a young midshipman named John McCain got in trouble at Annapolis for defending a steward at dinner, and how it wasn't outrage from the top that finally broke the system. It was the stewards themselves.
Filipinos have served in the U.S. Navy since 1901 when President William McKinley signed an Executive Order recruiting Filipinos into the Insular Force. Secretary of the Navy John Long implemented the executive order to enlist 500 Filipinos and Guamanians. The term "insular" refers to the U.S. Bureau of Insular Affairs which administered the governments in the U.S. territories. Between 1952 and 1992 over 35,000 Filipinos were recruited from the Philippines and for many decades Filipinos represented the largest percentage of foreign-born recruits in the Navy. In addition, thousands of Filipino Americans in the United States joined the Navy and to this day, Filipino families continue this noble tradition of service in the Navy and in the Armed Forces. It is a badge of honor that has been handed down from generation to generation.
After Pearl Harbor, most Americans wanted revenge against Japan. Tokyo had struck first, the Pacific Fleet was wounded, and public anger demanded an immediate response. So why didn’t the United States focus on Japan first in World War II?
The answer lies in one of the most important strategic decisions of the war: Germany First. Roosevelt, Churchill, the U.S. Army, the Navy, the Battle of the Atlantic, the survival of Britain, the Soviet Union’s struggle against Hitler, and America’s prewar Rainbow Plans all shaped the choice. Japan was dangerous — but Germany was seen as the greater long-term threat if it conquered Europe.
This is the story of why America fought a two-ocean war, why Japan could not be ignored, and why the road to defeating Tokyo first had to pass through the larger question of Hitler, Europe, and the future balance of world power.
