Filipino-American veteran dies without recognition of WWII military service

He died Sunday, believing that officials with the Army and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had been waiting for just that to happen to him and other Filipino-American veterans who never received military benefits.

Before a Thursday funeral Mass for the 100-year-old Las Vegas man at St. Joseph, Husband of Mary Catholic Church, he was remembered for leading a crusade for the veterans’ cause, one that Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., and Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., vow to continue.

They plan to reintroduce congressional bills next month to correct the benefits problem after their previous measures failed last year.

Cuaresma died without burial benefits and compensation of up to $15,000 each sought by 24,000 Filipino-American veterans whose claims under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have been denied. Military and veterans affairs officials don’t recognize their service records.

It’s a Catch-22 that pits paperwork required by two bureaucracies against the unrecognized documents that many Filipino-American vets possess. Heck’s bill would compel the Army to approve those papers as proof of service.

“It’s a very convoluted process,” Heck said before paying his respects to Cuaresma at the memorial.

“It’s the Department of the Army that has to make the determination that they are recognized. Then they turn that over to the VA and the VA pays the benefit. Unfortunately, they have a very narrow interpretation of what documents they will accept to prove service.”

Heck got to know the feisty, former soldier during the last years of his life.

“I think it’s sad to be here today and not see a service with full military honors that he earned and deserved,” said the congressman, who is an Army Reserve colonel.

Cuaresma was born June 19, 1912, in the Philippines at Alcala, Pangasinan. At age 30, he decided to fight for American troops after seeing how Japanese invaders abused Filipino men and women.

According to a fragile, yellow document that his family keeps in a plastic sheath, Cuaresma was appointed second lieutenant on April 22, 1943, “in the field by order of Edwin P. Ramsey, major, U.S. Army commanding.”

Ramsey was the well-known leader of the 26th Cavalry who made the famous last horse charge in U.S. history on Jan. 16, 1942. Decades later, Ramsey vouched for Cuaresma’s Army service in an affidavit for his veteran’s benefits claim, but to no avail despite Cuaresma’s other supporting papers.

One of those, a Pangasinan-Tarlac Military District roster dated April 22, 1943, names “Cuaresma, Silverio S., 2nd Lt., USAFFE,” as the No. 7 officer on a list of 85 soldiers.

As a guerrilla intelligence officer, he led raids that killed many Japanese soldiers in central Luzon.

In a 2011 interview, Cuaresma described how he and his men would creep up on Japanese strongholds at night and attack with grenades.

“I told my men to hold five grenades each and when they were 20 meters away to throw one grenade at a time, every two seconds,” he recalled.

For that particular attack, he was awarded a commendation for bravery.

Cuaresma’s guerrillas sometimes would set dynamite charges on bridges and hide nearby to detonate them when the enemy crossed.

“Despite my bravery and fighting for the cause of peace, freedom and democracy for the United States and the American people, they do not recognize me as one of the defenders. It’s bad. I am a hero of World War II,” he told the Review-Journal.

After the war, he continued to live in the Philippines and worked as a livestock official for the Bureau of Animals.

He moved to New York in 1984 to live with one of his sons. He became a U.S. citizen five years later.

In 2001, he began his legal battle to establish his status as a U.S. Army veteran. The case and his appeal was contested for years.

“They are waiting for me to die,” he said in 2011. “Maybe they don’t like me to win, but I keep on trying.”

At Thursday’s service, Ernesto Cuaresma, one of eight children, summed up his father’s life. “He might not have been recognized as a United States World War II veteran, but he will always be a soldier of God.”

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.