PCORE /JFAV Community Forum on July 26, 2010 at the Silver Lake Medical Center (SLMC)

Media Release
July 19, 2010

PCORE /JFAV Community Forum on July 26, 2010 at the Silver Lake Medical Center (SLMC)

Los Angeles --The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) and the Association of Widows, Advocates and Relatives for Equality (AWARE) marks the 69th year of the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) Day, July 26, 1941 with a community forum.

The commemorative event will be held on Monday , July 26, 2010 at the Silver Lake Medical Center ground floor at the Cafeteria at 1711 W. Temple St. Los Angeles, CA 90026 around 5;00 PM. The community forum will also discuss People’s CORE Smoke Free Apartment Project and issues about the veterans equity.

“Conscription Day”

The USAFFE Day is when the US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued an executive order that placed Armed Forces of the Philippine Commonwealth and the US Army under the command of the newly formed USAFFE under General Douglas Macarthur.

It also known as the conscription day. It also made the Philippines, then a US colony --the largest US Army garrison outside of the mainland United States. This in preparation for the coming war in the Pacific.

War in the Philippines

Six months after the war broke out when Japan attacked the US naval fleet in Pearl Harbor. December 7, 1941. The next day, Japanese planes bombed Clark Field and Manila. The Philippines became a battleground in the Pacific.

Two days, on December 10, 1941 later the Japanese forces landed in Vigan, Laoag and Gonzaga in Cagayan. The full scale invasion came later when the Japanese forces landed in Agoo. La Union after being repulsed in Lingayen, Pangasinan. Later on the USAFFE surrendered in Bataan and Corregidor in April -May 1942.

More than 500,000 Filipinos served during the war and the US government recognized only 250,000 guerillas and regular soldiers. 46,000 filed for the lump sum claims provided by ARRA or the Stimulus Bill.

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