Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!

Standing on the grounds that will be home to a monument honoring Filipino World War II veterans, 93-year-old Domingo Los Banos and others tasked with helping to turn the concept into reality knew they had chosen the perfect spot. Read more

Standing on the grounds that will be home to a monument honoring Filipino World War II veterans, 93-year-old Domingo Los Banos and others tasked with helping to turn the concept into reality knew they had chosen the perfect spot.

“This is going to be wonderful,” said Los Banos, a veteran of the U.S. Army’s 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment and member of the Filipino Veterans of WWII Art Advisory Committee, which is assisting the state in creating the monument.

The committee, comprising veterans, community leaders and residents, unanimously selected the mauka side of the Waipahu Public Library as the location, gathering there on a recent balmy day. It was chosen because of its central location and available staff to help convey the history of Filipino veterans, especially to younger generations.

The committee had discussed other sites such as the USS Arizona Memorial, USS Bowfin Submarine Museum &Park, Hawaii State Veterans Memorial Park and the Filipino Community Center.

All agreed the library met their criteria: ease of public access, central location and, more importantly, the education component. Displays about the history of the veterans can be created within the library, said Jonathan Johnson, executive director of the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

Waipahu Public Library Branch Manager Christine Madayag, who attended the meeting, strongly advocated for the site and offered to create programs about the veterans. “We would be very good caretakers of this memorial,” she said.

The Waipahu library serves nearly 72,000 patrons annually and the surrounding community has a large Filipino population.

Madayag, 44, has a personal connection to the planned monument; her late grandfather, Claro Tolete Justo, fought in the war as a soldier with the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East.

“It was because of him my mom was able to go to college and eventually come here. Because of his sacrifice, we’re all here now,” she said.

Justo was among approximately 75,000 Filipino and American soldiers in the brutal Bataan Death March who were forced to trudge 65 miles to prison camps after they surrendered to the Japanese. About 10,000 died of starvation, illness or torture at the hands of Japanese soldiers, according to the Bataan Death March website.

Justo’s younger brother was among those who died.

Madayag’s grandfather was imprisoned at Camp O’Donnell until 1945 when the U.S. recaptured the Bataan peninsula and liberated captive soldiers. Her grandmother, Patricia Justo, told her how her grandfather was malnourished and withdrawn when he returned home to San Manuel, Pangasinan.

“She told me when he came home, he was not the same person and very skinny,” Madayag said.

Justo died at age 29 from tuberculosis, but Madayag said he paved the way for his family to succeed as he ingrained the importance of education to her mother, Herminia Justo Madayag. He also taught her grandmother, who did not attend school, how to read and write in Ilocano.

For Justo, literacy was crucial.

“I think that’s why I always loved libraries,” Madayag added.

Finding a location for the planned monument doesn’t mean the work of Los Banos and the committee is done. They are expected later this year to discuss the concept for the monument.

Born in Wahiawa, Los Banos was one of about 300 soldiers from Hawaii assigned to the 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments.

Overall, more than 260,000 Filipino and Filipino-American veterans fought in WWII.

Nearly 75 years after the conclusion of the war, they were honored in 2017 with the Congressional Gold Medal — the nation’s highest civilian honor. The long overdue recognition honored those who served in the U.S. Army between July 26, 1941 and Dec. 31, 1946 under the command of the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East, Philippine Commonwealth Army, Philippine Scouts, Philippine Constabulary, Recognized Guerrilla unit, New Philippine Scouts, 1st Filipino Regiment, 2nd Filipino Regiment, 2nd Filipino Infantry Battalion (Separate) and 1st Reconnaissance Battalion.

Also in 2017, Gov. David Ige enacted a measure authorizing the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts to select an artist to design and build a $200,000 monument to honor Filipino WWII veterans.

Nationally renowned artist Kelley S. Hestir, who sculpted the Bataan Death March Memorial in Las Cruces, N.M, was selected to create the Filipino veterans monument.

Earning a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in fine arts at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hestir, 61, taught sculpture classes in the art department for five years before returning to her home state of New Mexico in 1995.

Her 8-foot-tall Bataan sculpture unveiled in 2002 on the 60th anniversary of the U.S. surrender of Bataan depicts three soldiers who represent the struggle and survival of those who experienced the arduous march and their support for one another.

A concrete sidewalk that leads to the monument contain impressions of the bare feet of veterans who survived the march. The walkway begins with many footprints and tapers to a few to symbolize the thousands who died. Castings of the survivors’ feet were used to create the footprints.

Last fall, Hestir traveled to Hawaii where she spoke with Filipino veterans and their families about their harrowing experiences in the war as part of her research for the project. She said she plans to visit the Waipahu Public Library sometime this year so she can begin creating a conceptual design.

“I’m happy with the library decision. It really serves the community and it’s going to reach the kids,” Hestir said.

The story of Filipino veterans and their critical role in the war needs to be told, she added.