Hundreds of Fil-Ams march in Hollywood for WWII Filvets equity

Filipino American youth and student supporters of Justice for Filipino American Veterans rally in Hollywood to mark Veterans’ Day. JOHN PRYSNER

LOS ANGELES — Hundreds of Filipino American youth and students along with scores of veterans and widows marched in Hollywood on November 11 to continue the World War II Filipino veterans’ campaign for equity.

March organizers contend that the Congressional Gold Medal the US government has awarded the veterans does not make up for America’s broken promise of equal benefits for WWII Filipino veterans.

Veterans’ kin at the Hollywood march and rally. FE KOONS

The march, in commemoration of Veterans’ Day, protested the Rescission Act of 1946, which took away the rights under the GI Bill of 1944 of the 250,000 FIlipino WWII veterans who fought under the US flag.

The Rescission Act reversed the promise of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to give Filipino service members who fought for the US equal veterans’ benefits.

LAPD told rally organizers they could no longer hold the march in the same place next year. Organizers plan to protest the ban. ARTURO GARCIA

The march was led by the Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) and Kabataang maka-Bayan Pro People Youth (KmB), which continue to press the veterans’ equity campaign.
The four march and rally was tightly guarded by the Los Angeles Police Department in both bicycles and patrol cars.
LAPD told march organizers that it was the last Veterans Day rally that JFAV could hold in Hollywood because  “they cause public incovenience” and “danger to public safety.”

JFAV leaders vowed to protest the ban.