From left: Carrie Huie-Pascua, Thelma Sevilla, Seattle City Councilwoman Lisa Herbold, Ray Pascua, Emma Catague, Cindy Domingo. Seattle City Council honors Congressional Gold Medal World War II Filipino Veterans as part of Filipino American History Month. (Photo by Assunta Ng)
The Seattle City Council honored Filipino and American World War II veterans with a proclamation during the Nov. 13 council meeting, a few days after Veterans Day.
During World War II, 250,000 Filipinos were called into service. As citizens of a U.S. commonwealth during the war, they were promised full veterans benefits. But after the war, in 1946, the U.S. Congress passed the Rescission Act, which barred Filipinos from receiving benefits for their military service.