The Fil-Am scholar who fleshed out the saga of over 1,200 European Jews fleeing Nazi Germany and found a haven in the Philippines in the late 1930s has her eyes set on the largely untold heroism of Filipino nurses during the battles of Bataan and Corregidor.
Dr. Sharon Delmendo, book author, Fulbright scholar, English professor at St. John Fisher College and history detective discussed the tale of the nurses during a recent talk in the home of Sonny and Ceres Busa in Virginia.
She revealed her efforts to dive into records at the MacArthur archives in Norfolk, Va.
“The contributions of Filipina nurses in Bataan are a shamefully neglected chapter of history,” Dr. Delmendo wrote.
“There are so many Filipina nurses serving all over the world today – and still neglected— I think this is a timely subject,” she averred.
Her first book history “The Star-Entangled Banner: One Hundred Years of America in the Philippines" (Rutgers University Press, 2004) unearthed the story of “Manilaners” - German Jews who found safe harbor in the Philippine capital in World War II.
Her trail-blazing research led to documentaries and movies, including a biopic on Philippine Commonwealth Pres. Manuel L. Quezon that revolved around the rescue of the Jews.
Existing literature focus on the “Angels of Bataan” or the “Battling Belles of Bataan” - US Army and US Navy nurses who were caught by the outbreak of the Pacific War in the Philippines.
There is scant reporting about the presence, much less experiences of Filipina nurses in Bataan and Corregidor.
The most compelling evidence perhaps is a letter from Capt. Josephine Nesbit, Assistant Chief of Nurse in Manila when the war broke out, listing the names of Filipina nurses assigned to Army hospitals in Bataan and Corregidor. They were brought by the Japanese to the University of Sto. Tomas, where their American counterparts were also detained for much of the war.
“These Filipina nurses unquestionably served loyally and efficiently and perhaps you may be able to them some deserved recognition,” the Surgeon General, Maj. Gen. Norman Kirk wrote Gen. Douglas MacArthur in August 1945.
Dr. Delmendo is ready to take the cudgels and fulfill Gen. Kirk’s wish for the Filipina nurses, largely forgotten.
She believes the achievements of the war-time Filipina nurses paved the way for the acceptance of their modern-day successors in America. Since 1960, more than 150,000 Filipina nurses have found work in the US.
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