Testimony of Benito Valdez

April 11, 2007

U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee

HONORABLE LEGISLATORS, THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK BEFORE YOU TODAY.

MY NAME IS BENITO VALDEZ. IAM 83 YEARS OLD AND I AM A WORLD WAR II VETERAN. IN MY UNIT FROM THE PHILIPPINES, I AM ONE OF ONLY THREE SURVIVING MEMBERS. TWO OF US LIVE IN WASHINGTON STATE.

I COME BEFORE YOU TODAY TO SEEK HELP AND UNDERSTANDING. LET ME BEGIN BY THANKING YOU FOR ALLOWING ME THIS RARE OPPORTUNITY TO BE PART OF THE VOICE FOR MORE 200,000 FORGOTTEN FILIPINO WARRIORS OF FREEDOM.

I AM AN OLD SOLDIER WHO FOUGHT A WAR THAT WAS NOT OURS, A WAR THAT DEVASTATED MY HOMELAND, AND KILLED COUNTLESS YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN OF MY GENERATION.  THAT WAR LEFT A DEEP AND BITTER WOUND THAT UP TO THIS DAY HAS NOT HEALED. IF I EXPRESS FRUSTRATION AS I TESTIFY BEFORE YOU, IT MERELY ECHOES THE BETRAYAL OF A SOLDIER WHO HAS SERVED WELL BUT HAS SUFFERED FOR MORE THAN SIXTY YEARS.

WHEN MY UNIT OF 100 FILIPINO SOLDIERS AND GUERILLAS HELPED AMERICAN COMMANDOS TO FREE 600 AMERICAN AND CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR IN THAT DARING RAID OF THE GARRISON IN CABANATUAN, WE SERVED WITH HONOR AND LOYALTY. TODAY---63 YEARS LATER---THAT LOYALTY AND SENSE OF DUTY HAS NOT FADED AWAY.  MANY OF US AGING FILIPINO WAR VETERANS BELIEVE THAT IT IS OUR AMERICAN ALLIES WHO HAVE INSTEAD FORGOTTEN US.

THERE ARE LESS THAN 100 OF US LIVING IN WASHINGTON STATE.  WITH THE ESTIMATED 7,000 FILIPINO WORLD WAR II VETERANS LIVING IN AMERICA AND THE 13,000 STILL IN THE PHILIPPINES, WE ARE A FAST-FADING, MARGINALIZED POPULATION. OUR CRY FOR JUSTICE HAS GOTTEN THIS FAR AND WE THANK MANY ADVOCATES AND SUPPORTERS WHO CONTINUE TO STAND WITH US.  A WIDOWER, I LIVE ALONE IN A SMALL PLACE NEAR A CHAPEL. MY DAUGHTER, A DOCTOR WHO CANNOT PRACTICE IN AMERICA, IS HERE ON A TEMPORARY VISA AS A CHURCH WORKER AND TO TAKE CARE OF ME. I HAVE PETITIONED FOR MY CHILDREN AND I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR 14 YEARS. MEANWHILE, A