PBS' "Untold Triumph"

Filipino Regiments: Above: Regiment members get together in Catbalogan, Samar, in the Philippines shortly after the atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945). Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2002 Hawaii International Film Festival, this film documents and honors the 7,000 men of the 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments of the U.S. Army who fought in World War II. Even though they endured a racist prewar climate and weren’t even considered U.S. citizens, Filipinos in America rallied to join the American war effort after the fateful bombing of Pearl Harbor. On January 2, 1942, President Roosevelt signed an executive order allowing Filipinos to join the U.S. Army and form a volunteer all-Filipino unit. These troops proved to be skilled fighters and an indispensable force in freeing the Philippines from the Japanese and, ultimately, in the winning of World War II. An Untold Triumph imparts personal accounts of the men’s contributions and sacrifices during the war. Lou Diamond Phillips narrates.

An Untold Triumph airs on PBS Monday, May 30, 2005, 10:00-11:00 pm ET