From stewards to pandemic leaders, the evolution of the Filipino-American sailor – We Are The Mighty

"Hey, Stew," the LTJG called out. The Filipino sailor did not respond. "Hey! Stew!" The Filipino sailor continued to mop the deck. "Hey! Stew! I'm talking to you!" The Lt. j.g. grabbed the Filipino sailor by his shoulder and turned him around.

"Oh, sir. I didn't know you were talking to me," the Filipino sailor responded. "I thought you were looking for someone named Stew. As you can see on my uniform, my name is Tongson. The name my parents gave me, my Christian name, is Benjamin. If you called me by those names, I would have responded to you." This earned Seaman Tongson a tirade of expletives from the young naval officer who then stormed away. Later, Tongson decided to invoke the open door policy of the ship's skipper. "Sir, may I have a moment of your time?" Tongson asked as he knocked on the bulkhead of the captain's quarters.

"Come on in Tongson. What can I do for you?" The captain motioned for Tongson to enter.

"Sir, one of your officers refuses to address me and the other stewards by our names. Instead, he only calls us 'Stew'. I do not find this behavior to be acceptable for an officer."

"And so you shouldn't," replied the Captain. "Which of my officers is doing this? I'll take care of it."

The 1947 Military Bases Agreement provided a 99-year lease on many Philippine military and naval bases to the United States Military. Under Article 27, Filipino citizens could also be recruited into the U.S. military. However, they were restricted to serving as stewards. Despite this restriction, the Navy would recruit anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 Filipinos every year according to a New York Times article from 1970.

With many of these men coming from poverty, a job with the US Navy presented a better prospect than what they could find in the post-war Philippines. While Filipino sailors were paid equal wages, they, like Tongson, often experienced racism and differential treatment. However, following a modification to the Military Bases Agreement in 1971, Filipinos could enter into any enlisted rating that they were qualified for. In Tongson's case, he became an Electrician's Mate and eventually rose to the coveted rank of Chief Petty Officer.

Tongson (first row, first from the left) as an Electrician's Mate Petty Officer First Class (USS Montrose Cruise Book/released)

Today, Filipino-Americans can be found in all branches of the U.S. militaryalthough their presence is still strongest in the Navy. Anyone who has spent time aboard a ship is familiar with the "Filipino Mafia", the network of Filipino-American sailors that seem to be able to get you anything you may need while underway, including Filipino food like adobo, pancit, and lumpia. Filipino-American sailors have made greater strides than just acquiring scarce goods and sharing delicious meals, though.

In 1992, Rear Admiral (then Commander) Eleanor Mariano was selected to serve as the Navy physician to the White House Medical Staff. President Clinton later selected her to serve as the White House Physician and director of the White House Medical Unit for which she was promoted to Captain. In 1999, she was nominated to the rank of Rear Admiral and was formally promoted in 2000, becoming the first Filipino-American to reach the rank. In 2014, Captain Ronald Ravelo took command of the USS Ronald Reagan, becoming the first Filipino-American sailor to do so. A year before, Rear Admirals Rauqel Bono and her brother Anatolio Cruz became the first and (so far) only Filipino-American siblings to simultaneously hold a flag-officer rank. While Cruz retired later that year, Bono was appointed by President Obama to the position of Defense Health Agency director and promoted to Vice Admiral in 2015. Following her retirement from the Navy in 2019, Bono became a Senior Fellow with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. On March 22, 2020 she was appointed as the head Washington State's COVID-19 health care response team by Governor Jay Inslee. The state's COVID-19 confirmed case, hospitalization, and death statistics peaked on March 23rd. At the time of the writing of this article, all three statistics have more than halved.

Vice Admiral Raquel C. Bono, DHA Director, command portrait (U.S. Army photo by Monica King/released)

Filipino-Americans continue to serve as an integral part of the U.S. Military. The naval officers previously mentioned all descend from parents who served in the U.S. military. As for Tongson, his daughter served in the U.S. Army as a nurse during Desert Storm and his grandson, the author, currently serves in the U.S. Army as a 1st Lt. with the 10th Mountain Division. Tongson gave his grandson his first salute at his commissioning ceremony aboard the USS Midway, a ship that Tongson served on, in 2017.

Tongson with the author at the commissioning ceremony (photo taken by Lace Pappas/released)

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From stewards to pandemic leaders, the evolution of the Filipino-American sailor - We Are The Mighty