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2003 SESSION
035228552WHEREAS, on July 26, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called into military service 140,000 Filipino soldiers to serve under the command of American officers and defend the U.S. Territory of the Philippines; and
WHEREAS, American and Filipino forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur fought valiantly against an overwhelming Japanese invasion force, delaying the invaders' timetable by four months and allowing U.S. forces to regain strength following Pearl Harbor; and
WHEREAS, following the Battles of Bataan and Corregidor, American and Filipino forces surrendered on April 9 and May 6, 1942; and
WHEREAS, American and Filipino soldiers subsequently suffered horrible casualties in the infamous Bataan Death March, in the prisoner of war camps, and in the liberation campaign, in which 10,000 U.S. soldiers and 250,000 Filipino soldiers and civilians died; and
WHEREAS, on February 18, 1946, the U.S. Congress passed the Recission Act, which withdrew from Filipino World War II soldiers their status as U.S. veterans and their eligibility for veterans' benefits, which were promised them by President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur; and
WHEREAS, in 1990, Congress passed legislation that allowed Filipino World War II veterans who proved their honorable military service to become naturalized United States citizens; and
WHEREAS, despite this legislation, the majority of the 12,000 surviving Filipino World War II veterans who are U.S. citizens live in poverty, receive minimal benefits, and die at a rate 57 percent higher than their American comrades; and
WHEREAS, the majority of Filipino World War II veterans are denied eligibility for Veterans Administration medical care and disability pensions that are provided to U.S. veterans; and
WHEREAS, Congressmen Benjamin Gilman and Bob Filner sponsored the Filipino Veterans Equity Act (H.R. 491, 2001) and the Health Care for Filipino World War II Veterans Act (H.R. 4904, 2002), respectively, and Senator Daniel Inouye has introduced the Filipino Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2003 (S. 68, 2003) to restore full official recognition to surviving Filipino World War II veterans; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly designate April 9, in 2003 and in each succeeding year, as the Bataan Day of Valor in the Virginia; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit a copy of this resolution to the Filipino-American Association of Central Virginia so that members of the Association may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter; and, be it
RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Clerk of the Senate post the designation of this day on the General Assembly's website.