The Filipino veteran who was fed with dog food

Dear mouse,

In my early years in the US, I moved from a suburban area to the City for convenience and accessibility to public transport.

The house owned by a friend-nurse was three houses away from his mother's house where many Filipino veterans waiting for their papers and benefits were renting the so-called in-law (that is not a relative by affinity but a garage converted into a room that is often rented out by the homeowner).

There were about eight of them in that one bedroom/kitchen/living room accommodation.They were like sardines packed in a small can.

That was the most practical living arrangement that they could find with their 500 or so dollar monthly welfare check considering that with their age and status, they still sent money to their relatives back home, and I thought these geriatrics should be enjoying their twilight years.

Among the veterans was an old man who was barely 5 feet tall. He was so small that you would think that he was a small boy wrapped in that thick woolen jacket.

One of the veterans that I befriended intimated to me however that, that small man got a lot of money awarded to him by the court as a victim of abuse by some people who first took them in upon arrival from the Philippines.

This is an excerpt of that story of the Filipino veteran who was made to eat dog food.

Legendary WWII vet passes on

MAGDALENO Duenas, 90, a small and gentle Filipino American World War II veteran, died February 27 at the Nob Hill Health Care Center in San Francisco.

Duenas gained undeserved fame in December 1993 when the San Francisco Chronicle featured photos and news stories about him and 16 veterans who were held in virtual captivity by an abusive landlord in Richmond, Calif. who beat and chained them.

The Filipino landlord fed him dog food and kept his monthly welfare payments. They were rescued by Contra Costa County police and later filed suit against the landlord and won.

Duenas’ case received extensive news coverage in 1994 in California. It brought to public attention the plight of poor and elderly Filipino veterans who came to America expecting to receive VA pensions for their honorable U.S. military service but were terribly disappointed to learn that they were excluded by the Rescission Act passed by Congress on Feb. 18, 1946.

At first, I thought that the veteran whom I befriended was luckier because he was able to bring the wife with him.

But with two mouths to feed with a meager monthly welfare pension, the old woman who was a lot younger than the husband had to work as live-in caregiver, leaving the husband all by himself during weekdays.

One time, he was gone for a day. He did not come back not until the following day. He was no longer wearing his much prized old Bulova watch. His clothes were torn and dirty. He was incoherent.

In his attempt to explore the streets, blocks away from his residence, he wandered in the notorious area populated by black thugs. There, he was beaten to pulp and got robbed of his only treasure, the watch.

He was never normal again after that traumatic experience that he had to be shipped home accompanied by a nurse in the airplane.

He lost also his welfare since his pension is only good if they stayed here in the US. That was the reason why many of them at their old age came and lived in the US.

Tssk tsssk, who sez that old soldiers never die; they just fade they away.

The Ca t sez, old soldiers never die, they just become names in the memorials.

The Ca t