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Welcome to the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society website!

The site is intended to help support the mission of preserving the history, heritage and legacy of the Philippine Scouts for present and future generations. Please explore the site, and learn more about the Philippine Scouts.

If you have questions about the organization, or would like to share your story, please email or post a message to our message board.

If you have questions concerning veterans' benefits, go to our Veterans Affairs & Benefits page in our newly structured Resources page for links to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

Sign Up Today & Register For Our 30th Reunion!

Join us! This event promises to be an unforgettable one!

If you’d like to make a tribute or place an ad in our 30th Reunion Souvenir Program, click here for the Souvenir Program Ad Submission Form.

Here’s our flyer:

We will also have a team of volunteer oral history interviewers from the Nimitz Education and Research Center, National Museum of the Pacific War. They'll interview veterans and collect stories about resisting and then defeating the Japanese in the Philippines. For more information on the National Museum of the Pacific War, please see the brochure below:

Congratulations to the "Forgotten Soldiers!"

Supporters of the Clark Veterans Cemetary

We have over 650 Scouts buried in Clark more than what is buried in the Manila American Cemetery only one maintained by the ABMC.

Although Legislation directing the American Battle Monuments Commission to assume responsibility for the Clark Veterans Cemetery was signed into law over six months ago, we have had no indication of their plans for the Cemetery. Our attempts to coordinate a smooth transition have been rebuffed, and we have been very pointedly excluded from any discussions or deliberations regarding the future of the Cemetery. Recall that ABMC resisted taking responsibility for the Cemetery for many years, and it appears that their position is unchanged.

The practical effect has been that we continue to maintain the Cemetery, but our fundraising has been much reduced due to the publicity surrounding the illusory “ABMC takeover”. Supporting the Cemetery from Post resources can only continue for a limited period without detriment to other VFW Post 2485 programs. I would ask you to assist in two ways:

Continue donations, and encourage others to do so, allowing us to maintain the Cemetery through this transition period. Contact the American Battle Monuments Commission, by letter or email, and encourage them to support the spirit of the legislation through action. Addresses below:
American Battle Monuments Commission
Courthouse Plaza II, suite 500
2300 Clarendon Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22201

Email:
info@abmc.gov

Additionally, I would ask that you disseminate this message widely to those interested in the future of “America’s Forgotten Veterans Cemetery”.

Your continuing support is greatly appreciated.

Respectfully,

John H. Gilbert, Ed.D.
1SG, USA (Ret)
Commander, VFW Post 2485
Chairman, Clark Veterans Cemetery

Spirit of '45 Event

Saturday, August 10, 2013, Los Angeles, CA

The Nininger Chapter made a great showing at the Spirit of '45 Event and thanks to Robert Tidwell, Colin Tidwell, Jun Mislang, Andrew Mislang, Monty Hom, Michael Moore, April Moore and Louis Cogut for being able to participate.

Visit the Spirit of '45 page for more information and pictures!

Forgotten Soldiers: Now Available on DVD!

Get yours today. Visit http://www.ww2scouts.com/

2013 PSHS 29th National Annual Reunion
April 12 - 13, 2013 in Tacoma, Washington

29th PSHS national reunion at the La Quinta Inn & Suites in Tacoma, WA was a blast. If you missed it, check out our 29th Annual Reunion page for Lt. Col. Al Cosio's riveting speech, pictures, videos and more.

Here's an excerpt of the News-Tribune article on the reunion.

Jose Calugas, left, president of the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society, Rudy Cabigas, center, dressed in a Philippine Scouts uniform, and David Tejada, 90, who served with Philippine Scouts enjoy sharing war stories at the 29th National Reunion of the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society in Tacoma on Friday. (LUI KIT WONG/Staff writer)

Philippine Scouts, descendants honor those who fought in WWII

(The News-Tribune, 04/14/13) Zenaida Crisostomo Slemp of Puyallup joined her father’s military heritage organization years after his death. Something called out to her, telling her it was time to learn more about his past.

She knew her father, Serafin Crisostomo, survived as a prisoner of war of the Japanese after fighting overwhelming odds with the U.S. Army’s Philippine Scouts. Her grandfather fought there, too.

“I needed to honor my father, to keep his legacy going,” she said.

Photo Gallery

Our photo gallery includes a number of historical photos and photos from PSHS reunions.

» View the Photo Gallery

Mount Samat Memorial

The following photos were taken by Joe Calugas and include a panel depicting Sgt. Jose Calugas, Sr. during the engagement for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. (The monument has him manning a machine gun, rather than an artillery piece.)

The Philippine Scouts

by Chris Schaefer

These were General MacArthur's soldiers—the guys who fought America's first battle of World War II. The Philippine Division. Probably the best trained and possibly the best prepared U.S. Army division at the outset of that war.

But they weren't farm boys from Kansas and California, or Italian-Americans from New Jersey as depicted in the black and white movies made during and after the war years. They were mostly Filipinos serving as enlisted soldiers in United States Army units commanded by American officers. They were special men in special units, officially designated "Philippine Scouts." At the beginning of World War II, General Douglas MacArthur's U.S. Army Forces in the Far East, spearheaded by the Philippine Division, were mostly Filipinos.

» Read More...

Poems

» To the Philippine Scouts by 1st Lt. Henry Lee
» Bataan by Mallie Wilson Farrell
» Bataan Falls! by Don Blanding

26th Cavalry Re-enactor

Rudy Cabigas, a retired San Jose Fire Department Captain, representing a Filipino trooper of the legendary the 26th Cavalry, Philippine Scouts. His father and an uncle served with the 26th.