Soldiers of a forgotten empire: American memory and the battle for Filipino veterans’ benefits

Abstract

More than a quarter million Filipino soldiers fought under American command during the Second World War, but the US Congress declared in 1946 that the vast majority would be ineligible to receive benefits under the GI Bill, a landmark piece of social legislation that provided financial and educational assistance to most veterans of the war. This article examines the contested politics of denying these benefits to veterans of the Philippine Commonwealth Army. It demonstrates how the US Federal Government’s efforts to suppress its imperial past shaped military welfare policy in the post-war era.