San Antonio, Texas’ last WWII veteran, a Filipino, dies at 101

Dominador Soriano, San Antonio’s last WWII veteran, during his 101st birthday celebration last May. PINOY

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Dominador Soriano, 101, the last World War II Filipino veteran of San Antonio, was buried on Wednesday, Aug. 8 at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. He died July 31 of a hemorrhagic stroke.

Soriano fought against the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II. He was with both the Philippine Army and the U.S. Army during World War II and was one of fewer than 7,000 such veterans living in the U.S.

Filipino army troops were integrated into the US Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) just before Japan invaded in 1941 and were among the first US soldiers to see combat in WWII.

Soriano commanded Echo Company of the 83rd Infantry Regiment, which served under Gen. Douglas MacArthur. He and his men became coast watchers from an outpost on the eastern shore of Cebu Island, reporting on Japanese ships passing through the Tañon Strait in the early days of the war, according a report by Expressnews.com.

He was wounded in the leg by a Japanese machinegun, and when Japan won in April 1942, he told his men not to surrender but go home. Soriano organized a guerrilla force, but in July 1944, he was betrayed by collaborators, captured and tortured. After his release he kept working for the resistance until Japan surrendered Aug. 15, 1945.

After the war, Soriano became a lawyer for local farmers. When he was 52 his family arrived in the U.S. in 1971, and he settled in San Antonio, where two of his children live.  He was awarded a Purple Heart for his wounds.

But in 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed the Rescission Act, which retroactively stripped Filipinos of service benefits that were promised them during World War II. His family says that the decision always bothered him.

Last year, Congress awarded all Filipinos who fought under the US flag of a single Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor. The city of San Antonio honored Soriano last fall with its own citation.

Soriano spent his last days as a volunteer for the Catholic church next to his house, preparing food for poor families in his neighborhood.

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