KING-TV reports Julian Nichols will be honored for his role in helping to free 500 American prisoners from the Cabanatuan prison camp in the Philippines in 1945.
Nichols joined the American military in his early teens.
“I claim that I am the youngest member of the company,” he said with a chuckle. “I was maybe 13 years old.”
Last year, Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to recognize the 260,000 Filipino veterans who fought for the U.S. Only 18,000 remained alive at the time.
A similar effort is underway to recognize Chinese American veterans.
CCTV reports Senators Tammy Duckworth, Thad Cochran, and Mazie Hirono have introduced a bill to do just that.
Some 13,000 Chinese American fought in World War II. That’s about 12 percent of the entire Chinese population in the U.S. at the time.
The contributions of Chinese American veterans is rarely mentioned. My dad served in the U.S. Army Signal Corp. My uncle was in the Battle of Normandy. There are numerous stories of bravery from this group of Americans.
Documentary producer Samantha Cheng is gathering their stories for a huge documentary.
“Despite facing outright discrimination, more than 13,000 brave Chinese Americans volunteered to risk their lives to protect their fellow Americans from our enemies during World War II. Their unwavering commitment to their country even after being initially turned away should be recognized,” said Duckworth.
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RE: Filipino American to Receive Congressional Gold Medal. Push for Chinese American veterans launched: American Why is it that he is receiving a civilian medal when he was a military service member of the United States? At least this is a step in the right direction.
Also, the Philippine Islands were part of the United States before July 4th, 1946. People in the Philippine Islands were still American nationals. Why are articles still differentiating Americans and Filipinos when talking about Filipinos before July 4th, 1946? About 500 prisoner were freed according to this article, but were there “Filipino-Americans” freed as well?