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For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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LONG AND TOUGH JOURNEY. Filipino-American was veteran Gerardo R. Dinsay
shows proudly his Purple Heart medal and certificate.
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JERSEY CITY, September 23, 2004 --- He fought and got wounded for Americans during World War II, but Gerardo R. Dinsay waited nearly 60 years to get his act of heroism completely recognized by the U.S. government.
“The war ended in 1945, and I received my Purple Heart award in June 2004. In between those long years, I prayed and kept my faith that one day I will be given what I deserved,” the 82-year-old veteran said. “It was a long journey for me.”
He said that he started applying for the Purple Heart since 1973 when he was still in the Philippines. The Department of U.S. Army, however, denied him more than ten times for lack of documents to show that “the wound on my right shoulder was not incurred in the line of duty” while fighting the Japanese forces.
“Instead of giving up, I was challenged all the more to tell the truth. After each denial, I would follow it up with another application,” said Dinsay of Orchard Street.
The U.S. Army also reasoned out a number of times, he said, that his name was not in the list of those who were wounded in combat. Still, that didn’t deter him from pursuing his goal.
“I believed them that my name wasn’t included. But during the war, who would think to keep a list of names of soldiers who died or wounded? The official list that they have right now is actually based on the veterans or their families who had come up to them and showed them some evidence. I knew I could do exactly the same.”
A member of the Bohol Area Command, 43rd Infantry Pacific-Asiatic Theater of Operations, Dinsay recalled the bloody encounter, in 1942, in Tagbilaran, Bohol -– an island approximately about 965 miles south of Manila — where the joint of his right shoulder was shattered by a .22 caliber bullet from a Japanese soldier.
“It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when we exchanged fire with the Japanese. We were in a farm, crawling in the grasses and hiding behind the coconut and banana trees,” he recounted. “At first I didn’t feel I was hit, only when I saw I was bleeding badly from my right shoulder.”
Dinsay said he stood on his feet amid gunfire and ran away from the enemies. It was then his comrades helped him and brought him to a small hospital for the “guerilla fighters” -– a term he said coined for Filipinos fighting the Japanese.
“That day some of my comrades died, and many of us were wounded,” he said.
Historically, on May 6, 1942, while the Philippine islands were under the rule of the United States, the Japanese bombed the islands. The American troops, under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, retreated to Australia, where he later helped organize Filipino and American guerilla groups in different parts of the Philippines via radio communications.
When Gen. McArthur returned to the Philippines, in Oct. 1944, and battled through with allied forces, the Japanese finally surrendered almost a year later, in Aug. 1945.
“It was only after the war that I had a decent surgery at 133rd General Hospital established by Americans in Manila,” Dinsay said. “Then I went back to Bohol and went to a school there that was run by Americans for Filipino soldiers.”
Dinsay and his wife, Miguela, immigrated to the U.S. in 1990. Five of their children had been left behind in the Philippines, and one lives in Maryland.
On November 22, 2003, Dinsay mailed to the U.S. Army another request, together with documents – a certificate from the hospital, recommendation letters, and affidavit from the Philippine embassy – to prove his experience during the war.
He had no idea it was the end of his struggle to get the Purple Heart.
“When we opened the bubble envelope and saw the Purple Heart medal and certificate, we were overwhelmed with happiness,” said Miguela, 72, who was with her husband when they claimed the package sent last June 14 by the Dept. of U.S. Army. “People at the post office on Bergen Avenue where looking at us as we were jumping with joy. They might have thought we have gone crazy.”
Miguela said in the past they only received ordinary letter envelopes, but when they got a notice that they had a package, she felt it could be something very special. “Before we opened it, we felt the bubble envelope first. It wasn’t flat, so both our hands were shaking. We hugged each other in tears.”
The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces who are wounded in the hands of an enemy while at war and posthumously to the family of a soldier killed in action or died of wounds in action.
Though Purple Heart is specifically a military decoration, and no other special benefits given to the recipient, it is the highest military honor that a U.S. soldier can get. Purple Heart was initially created as the Badge of Military Merit by George Washington.
“The long wait to get his Purple Heart was worth it. Our determination paid off well. Looking back on it, all the time and emotions we put together became more meaningful for us now,” Miguela said.
Now retired, and could hardly swing his right shoulder back and forth since after the encounter with the Japanese, Dinsay said he devotes his time to spending with his wife, going to the church and malls, and attending meetings of the Filipino-American veterans group.
“I have been happy from that day on the post office until now that I could hold the Purple Heart medal with my hands and see my name in the certificate. I hope my experience will encourage one or two of my children to enlist and serve the U.S. Forces, as well as inspire their children and my fellow war veterans,” he said.
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