Honoring Veteran Leaders - Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Image
AAPI Month Graphic

The 2022 theme for AAPI Heritage Month is “Advancing Leaders through Collaboration.” There have been many veteran “leaders” of Asian, Pacific Islander, or Native Hawaiian heritage throughout the history of the United States.

The first Korean-American woman to join the military was Lt. Susan Ahn Cuddy. Susan, along with her siblings Ralph and Philip, enlisted in 1942 and were from one of California’s first Korean immigrant families. Cuddy would go on to oversee a think tank during the Cold War and worked on several top-secret projects for the Department of Defense.

Another leader amongst AAPI veterans was Brigadier General Albert Kuali’i Brickwood Lyman, a Chinese and Hawaiian-American, who was the first person of AAPI heritage to general officer rank. Lyman was the commanding general of the 32nd Army Division, which fought in the Leyte campaigns during World War II. He was promoted to the rank only a few days before his death in August 1942.

Dr. Eleanor Mariano of the U.S. Navy was the first military woman in American history to be appointed physician to the President, attending to both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. President Clinton promoted her to Rear Admiral in 2000, which made her the first Filipino-American to attain flag rank. Dr. Mariano’s family has a long line of naval service: her father was a Filipino master chief petty officer and served 29 years in the Navy’s steward’s branch.

The first Asian servicemember to be awarded the Medal of Honor was Jose Baliton Nisperos, a member of the Philippine Scouts during the Moro Rebellion. Nisperos defended his unit against spear-wielding locals while severely wounded in 1911 – his citation reads “Having been badly wounded (his left arm was broken and lacerated and he had received several spear wounds in the body so that he could not stand) continued to fire his rifle with one hand until the enemy was repulsed, thereby aiding materially in preventing the annihilation of his party and the mutilation of their bodies.” There have been 33 AAPI servicemembers awarded the Medal of Honor.

These are just a few of the trailblazing AAPI veterans who have blazed the way for younger generations throughout US history.