‘WE HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN,’ veterans of the Korean War lament during their 41st annual convention, but the Elpidio Quirino Foundation remembers to honor their heroism. With the President’s grandchildren Cory Quirino and Ruby Gonzalez-Meyer (extreme left) are veterans Arnulfo Bañez, Miguel Villamor, Crispin Paciente Sr., Augusto Flores and Ernesto Venturina. JILSON SECKLER TIU
The year is 1952. Just seven years after the end of a war that devastated their homeland, another wave of Filipino soldiers arrive in the shores of the Korean Peninsula, heeding the call to support the defense of democracy.
In unfamiliar terrain, in the bitter cold, the Filipinos—mostly just in their 20s—hang on to their helmets and rifles amid the onslaught of enemy forces.
It is the first overseas war the Philippines fought, a war largely forgotten today.
“Of course, when we arrived, we saw the people scared, hungry, with tattered clothes,” said 86-year-old retired Col. Ernesto Venturina.
Venturina was
part of the 19th Battalion Combat Team (BCT) of the Philippine Expeditionary
Force to Korea (Peftok), the
country’s contingent which began deployment two years earlier (1950) to support
United Nations forces repel communist forces in the divided Korean Peninsula
“We were in the
front lines. The sight of both our people and the enemy, it was sad to see
that,” said Venturina, who deployed at 22, the youngest first sergeant among
the entire UN forces at the time.
The memory is as
vivid for retired General Prudencio Regis, Venturina’s fellow soldier in the
19th Battalion.
The unit is among
forces that saw action in some of the fiercest battles in the three-year war,
including the Battle of Hill Eerie, a military outpost near the 38th parallel, the demarcation that divides Korea into the
communist North and democratic South to this day.
Regis arrived in
the battlefield by train, going straight to the front lines.
“There were shots
all over. I was praying, praying,” said the 90-year-old, who served alongside
former President Fidel Ramos, among the prominent Korean War veterans whose ranks produced top
military officials, diplomats and civil servants.
While memories of
the war 65 years ago remain indelible in the minds of the veterans, some lament
that stories of their hard-fought survival have now become cobwebbed, hardly
commemorated like the true acts of heroism that they were.
“We have been
forgotten. That’s the truth,” said 85-year-old Florendo Benedicto of the 20th
BCT, aggrieved of what he described as the insufficient compensation benefits to Filipino Korean War veterans.
Noting the meager
recognition accorded to the country’s living heroes, the President Elpidio
Quirino Foundation, an organization led by descendants of the country’s second
post-World War II leader, this month honored Filipino Korean War veterans as
part of the late President’s 125th birth anniversary commemoration.
“We are very
happy and honored to be here for the first time,” said Ruby Quirino Gonzalez,
one of the Quirino grandchildren actively involved in the foundation.
It was the late
President who sent Filipino troops to support UN forces in the Korean Peninsula
The Filipino
troops made up the fourth-largest contingent among 16 nations under the UN
command at the time, toiling the battlefield alongside United States forces.
Quirino’s son, son-in-law
The troops
included the Quirino family’s own—a fact little known about the Peftok’s barely
talked about travails.
Among those sent
to Korea Philippines ’
teenage first lady,
having assumed the role in lieu of her mother Alicia Syquia who perished in the
liberation of Manila
“It was very hard
for him (Quirino) to see that he was sending more troops when we just survived
the war (World War II). It was a very happy decision for him to send his own,”
said Gonzalez, daughter of the late lieutenant.
Enduring cold weather
“They were
(Filipinos at the time) just rehabilitating their lives, and now they were
going back to war. But they were all a happy troop. They were very courageous,
they were known as among the bravest,” she told the Inquirer.
She said her late
father, who served as a combat pilot in the war, always had stories to tell
about the war.
“We were told so
many stories about how it was so cold. Their suffering, it was really the weather and the danger,” said Gonzalez in an interview.
As part of a
series of events leading to the celebration of Quirino’s 125th birth
anniversary on Nov. 16, the Quirino Foundation launched on Sept. 7 an exhibit
of just-found war photographs
from the former first family’s collection at the Philippine-Korean
Friendship Center
in Taguig City
Now on display at
the Peftok Korean War Memorial Hall, the exhibit titled “The President’s Sons”
features photographs of Tomas Quirino and Luis Gonzalez in deployment,
accompanying a timeline of Peftok’s participation in the war.
Emotional journey
Gonzalez said
digging up the photographs from the war was “a thoroughly emotional journey”
for the family.
The collection
includes never-before-seen photos of Filipino troops in the trenches, wrapped
in cold-weather gear, as if fighting winter as hard as they were the enemy
forces.
Coinciding with
Peftok’s annual convention, the foundation also premiered “March of the
Valiant,” a gripping 30-minute retelling of the Filipino soldiers’ exploits in
the Korean War, featuring the veterans themselves.
“We dedicate not
only the collection, but spent a little bit of time to try to give honor to all
of you valiant men who fought in the Korean War, but also to those who never
made it back,” Gonzalez told the veterans during the memorial rites.
“We would like
for our youth never to forget the bravest, the truest and the noblest of our
Filipinos in the war,” she told around 50 of the surviving veterans, fondly
called “super seniors” for their advanced age.
Honoring the
heroes who once defended his country, South Korean Ambassador to the
Philippines Kim Jae-shin said spending his day with Peftok veterans was “the
most touching, moving and happiest day” since his arrival in Manila in April.
In his remarks at
the commemoration, the Korean envoy said he could not find the words to express his gratitude to the veterans before him.
Fragile peace
“As a Korean, I’m
very much aware that peace is quite fragile,” said Kim, in apparent reference
to the continuing tension between the two Koreas
“It has been said
that the true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but
because he loves what is behind him. The same can be said of the men who fought
in the Korean War,” he said.
He cited the
courage of Peftok soldiers to rally behind democracy and independence, helping
shape what is now a free and robust nation.
“In 1950, men
with indubitable principles, men like the soldiers that made up the Peftok,
fought alongside South Korean troops not because they hated the invaders, but
because they believed in preserving the democracy and independence of the
country,” said Kim.
As a continuing
expression of thanks to Peftok, the South Korean government has been providing
scholarships to veterans’ descendants, currently numbering 175.
In a message read
on his behalf by Philippine Army Vice Commander Major General Demosthenes
Santillan, Philippine Army chief Lt. General Eduardo Año said today’s
generation of Filipino troops “take inspiration” from the Peftok veterans.
“Your numbers
were not that big, yet the impact of your timely presence and actions in many
engagements have been crucial, where the loss of a position or two would have
spelled defeat for UN forces,” he said.
“Your gallantry
is part of the tradition of excellent service, which we, the active members of
the force, strive to achieve even in the smallest of tasks,” the Army chief
said.
Gonzalez hoped
the bravery that Peftok soldiers showed 65 years ago would strike a chord not
just among those in service, but also among today’s youth. The advocacy for
peace is, after all, a timeless endeavor.
“As you know,
North and South Korea have a very tenuous relationship. It’s very strained.
Tensions are very real and very present. Can you imagine what would have
happened if the UN and the 16 countries that went didn’t take that action?”
said Gonzalez.
She cited the
Peftok veterans’ pride and nationalism as “traits that we can now communicate
to our youth.”
“There are so
many soldiers in the line of fire today, whose families live in fear, and in
pain, and anxiety. What are we doing about it? As my grandpa once said: ‘The
sleep of the heroic dead is never peaceful.’ What are we, the survivors, doing
in the interest of peace?” Gonzalez said.
As Venturina put
it, nobody wins in any war.
“As much as
possible, nations should not go to war… A state of war is very ugly,” said the
veteran.
“As much as
possible, they should exert all efforts to negotiate and iron out their
differences. Because in war, there’s no winner. Both victor and loser, they are
all losers,” he added
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/128354/quirino-foundation-honors-forgotten-heroes
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