Bills in US Congress for Deserving Filipino and American Troops to Receive Congressional Gold Medal for WWII Exploits in Bataan |
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Sections - Filipino-Veterans' Lobby | |||
Wednesday, 04 January 2012 22:33 | |||
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Petition Seeks Award for By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors ( and National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Proponents in "It is an uphill battle, but it is doable," says Maria Elizabeth Embry, a volunteer lobbyist, who is spearheading an online campaign to get people to sign a petition urging the award as a recognition of the sacrifices by American and Filipino forces in fighting Japanese aggression. (The petition is at: http://www.change.org/petitions/us-senate-house-of-representative-members-co-sponsor-the-congressional-gold-medal-bills-for-the-defenders-of-bataan). The gold medal is not meant to be worn and is largely symbolic as only one would be created by the US Mint and kept on permanent display, like a trophy, at the Smithsonian. Bronze replicas would be produced and sold to the public to recover cost estimated not to exceed $30,000. Initially intended to honor individuals for their outstanding deeds as in the case of its very first recipient in 1776, George Washington, then a general, the Congressional Gold Medal is now awarded to groups of persons like President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan in July 2000 or the Navajo Code Talkers in December 2000. "The reason I started this," explains Ms. Embry in email interviews, "is that even non-US citizens and non-US residents can sign the petition since we are all beneficiaries of the freedom that our soldiers fought for". "It's just fitting and proper that these troops should be honored together for they fought for the same cause and died for the same idealism," she adds. Two bills have been filed in mid-December in the House and the Senate which would authorize the grant of the gold medal. The bills recognized that "The veterans of For Filipinos, the medal is especially significant since it would rectify the many mistakes committed by the "It is high time that the World War II Filipino veterans get the proper acknowledgment for their sacrifices. They truly deserve this Congressional Gold medal for fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Americans in WWII," says California-based journalist Malou Mariano in an e-mail. # # # To view my other channels, here are the links: 1. For Filipino community news, visit The Filipino Web Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/FilipinoWebChannel#g/u 2. For mainstream news in 3. For Filipino entertainment news, visit The Filipino Web Entertainment Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/FilWebEntertainment#g/u For other stories and photos, please visit: 1. http://currentsbreakingnews.blogspot.com/ 2. http://torontonewsroom.blogspot.com/ 3. http://timecircumstance.blogspot.com/ 4. http://travelsthemes.blogspot.com/ 5. http://gotchajournalist.blogspot.com/ . PHILIPPINE VILLAGE VOICE/The Filipino Web Channel - Redefining Community News Currents & Breaking News Volume 6, Issue No. 1 / News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
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