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Coming home: providing humanitarian relief in your home country




Lieutenant Sharon Ong, from 5e Régiment du génie de combat, Valcartier and Liaison Officer for the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), exchanges information with a Municipal Social Welfare Office representative in order to assess the needs of the local population during Operation RENAISSANCE i

Article / March 6, 2014 / Project number: 14-0013

In honour of International Women’s Day on Saturday, March 8, we will be publishing one profile a day from March 3rd to 7th to celebrate the dynamic, skilled, community-minded and accomplished women of the Canadian Army.

Valcartier, Quebec — When Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded struck the Philippines in November 2013 it affected the whole central region of the island’s provinces.

Lieutenant Sharon Ong immigrated to Canada from the Philippines at age ten and, as a Canadian soldier with a Filipino background; she was an ideal person to work as a Liaison Officer providing humanitarian relief work with the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART).

As a Liaison Officer she acted as a link between local authorities, international aid agencies and Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members while living with the people in the small municipalities of Estancia and San Dionisio.
I joined the CAF,” said Lt Ong.[/b]

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Jesse Baltazar signed up for the U.S. Armed Forces Far East [USAFFE] after the Japanese Imperial Army attacked Pearl Harbor 1941 and threatened to invade the Philippines, which was his native country, as during this time, it was under American control.

When asked by the media why he decided to join the US Army, the WWII vet answered point blank, “The war broke out and … they needed men.”
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Baltazar became part of USAFFE’s 71st battalion. When Japanese war planes bombed the unit’s camp on March 15, 1942, the Purple Heart holder got hit by a shrapnel in the leg. Due to the facilities and the medical supplies being very limited at that time, the WWII vet had to undergo a surgery with very little anesthesia while they were deep in the jungle. A few weeks after he went that gruesome surgery, the Filipino and American troops who were within the Bataan peninsula were forced to surrender after the Japanese forces took control over the country.
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However, this case of being “overlooked” did not stop Baltazar from enjoying a long career within the military service. When he got discharged from the USAFFEE after the Second World War ended, he migrated to the United States. He received a commission in the Air Force in 1948 and became the first native-born Filipino to join in the said service.

Baltazar went on to serve as a member of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations during the Korean War. He eventually retired with the rank of major.

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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash., November 18, 2015 — Growing up in rural Tarlac province in the Philippines, Air Force Reserve Senior Airman Anne Venice Jalos, a finance manager with the 446th Airlift Wing here, never envisioned that at age 19 she would be serving the U.S. military as a naturalized citizen.

"Being raised in the Philippines was very traditional; we depended on our parents a lot. Women weren't encouraged to succeed; it sometimes felt like I was being drug down," Jalos said.

After her mother moved the family to the United States, Jalos felt emboldened with a new sense of hope for her future. ...

"At first, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know that gaining my citizenship was even an option, but I knew that I wanted to serve," she said.

Luckily for Jalos, her recruiter, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Erin Bush, 446th Airlift Wing Development and Training Flight program manager, was well-versed on the military guidance on naturalization.

"This program offers all legal resident aliens the opportunity to earn naturalization as U.S. citizens through basic military training. Once I really understood the potential of this program, I knew I had to educate myself on it so I could offer this opportunity," Bush said.

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New York City – The Filipino community here stands proud to have a Filipino-American as the newest entrant to the US Army, 1st Lt. Christal Pagaran Theriot.

Currently stationed in Fort Hood, Texas, Theriot is a graduate of Westpoint (branching aviation) and now an Apache helicopter pilot. This 24-year-old will be assigned to handle a platoon in Germany in the fall.