Public Law 79-391, the Second Supplemental Surplus Appropriation Rescission Act enacted in 1946, provided that service in the New Philippine Scouts was not deemed U.S. military service.

EXCERPT FROM

“FIRST SUPPLEMENTAL SURPLUS APPROPRIATION RESCISSION ACT, 1946”

(PUBLIC LAW 301-79^TH CONGRESS)

(CHAPTER 20 -2D SESSION)

AN ACT REDUCING CERTAIN APPROPRIATION AND CONTRACT AUTHORIZATIONS AVAILABLE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY SIX AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

          Be it enacted by the Senate  and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled:  That the appropriations and contractual authorizations of the departments and agencies available in the fiscal year 1946, and prior year unreverted appropriations, are hereby reduced in the sums hereinafter set forth, such sums to be carried to the surplus fund and covered into the Treasury immediately upon the approval of this act.

TRANSFER OF APPROPRIATIONS

          In addition to the transfer authorized by Section 3 of the Military Appropriation Act, 1946, transfer of not to exceed the amounts hereinafter set forth may be made, with the approval of the Bureau of Budget, from the appropriation “Ordinance Service, Army” to the following appropriations:

          Army War College, $23,819

          Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas  $30,189

          Quartermaster Service, Army,  $7,881,967

          Rock Island Bridge, Rock Island, Illinois,  $5,719

          Instructions in Armored forced activities,  $389,756

          Maintenance and operation, United States Military Academy,  $1,323,884

Army of the Philippines,  $200,000,000;  Provided, That service in the organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, while such forces were in the service of the armed forces of the United States pursuant to the military order of the President of the United States dated July 26, 1941, shall be deemed to be or to have been service in the military or naval forces of the United States or any components thereof for the purposes of any law of the United States conferring rights, privileges, or benefits upon any person by reason of the service of such person or the service of any other person in the military or naval forces of the United States or any component thereof, except benefits under 1) the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940; and amended, under contracts heretofore entered into, and 2) laws administered by the Veterans Administration providing for the payment of pensions on account of service connected disability or death;  Provided, further, That such pensions shall be paid at the rate of one Philippine peso for each dollar authorized to be paid under the laws providing for such pensions:  Provided, further, That any payments heretofore made under any such law to or with respect to any member of the military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines who served in the service of the armed forces of the United States shall not be deemed to be invalid by reason of the circumstances that his service was not service in the military  or naval forces of the United States or any component thereof within the meaning of such law.

APPROVED, FEBRUARY 18, 1946

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=12583&st=philippines&st1=

IN APPROVING H.R. 5158, I wish to take exception to a legislative rider attached to the transfer of a $200,000,000 item for the pay of the Army of the Philippines.

The effect of this rider is to bar Philippine Army veterans from all benefits under the G.I. Bill of Rights with the exception of disability and death benefits which are made payable on the basis of one peso for every dollar of eligible benefits. I realize, however, that certain practical difficulties exist in applying the G.I. Bill of Rights to the Philippines.

However, the passage and approval of this legislation do not release the United States from its moral obligation to provide for the heroic Philippine veterans who sacrificed so much for the common cause during the war.

Philippine Army veterans are nationals of the United States and will continue in that status until July 4, 1946. They fought, as American nationals, under the American flag, and under the direction of our military leaders. They fought with gallantry and courage under most difficult conditions during the recent conflict. Their officers were commissioned by us. Their official organization, the Army of the Philippine Commonwealth, was taken into the Armed forces of the United States by executive order of the President of the United States on July 26, 1941. That order has never been revoked or amended.

I consider it a moral obligation of the United States to look after the welfare of Philippine Army veterans.

I recognize, of course, that the Commonwealth Government, and after it, the Government of the Philippine Republic, have obligations to these veterans. But the Government of the Philippines is in no position today, nor will it be for a number of years, to support a large-scale program for the care of its veterans.

Sir:

I am transmitting, with request for its early introduction and consideration, a bill to provide for the Philippine veterans:

First. Hospitalization, including medical care, for service-connected disability;

Second. Pensions for service-connected disability and death, on a peso-for-dollar basis; and

Third. Appropriate burial and funeral allowance.

The bill also contains general administrative and penal provisions, as well as a provision authorizing hospital care and medical treatment in the Philippine Islands for American veterans residing there.

Under the legislation proposed, the Philippine veteran would have restored to him some of the veterans' benefits which were taken from him by the First Supplemental Surplus Appropriation Rescission Act, 1946, due, doubtless, in part at least, to the irapracticability from an administrative viewpoint of applying to Philippine veterans the Servicemen's Readjustment Act and the needy for adapting to Philippine conditions the benefits provided by that act.

The standing Philippine Army was made a part of the armed forces of the United States by the President's order of July 26, 1941. Certain guerrillas, who so courageously carried on the war against the enemy. after the fall of the Philippines, were recognized as members of the Philippine Army, hence a part of the Army of the United States.

The record of the Philippine soldiers for bravery and loyalty is second to none. Their assignment was as bloody and difficult as any in which our American soldiers engaged. Under desperate circumstances they acquitted themselves nobly.

There can be no question but that the Philippine veteran is entitled to benefits bearing a reasonable relation to those received by the America veteran, with whom he fought side by side. From a practical point of view, however, it must be acknowledged that certain benefits granted by the GI bill of rights cannot be applied in the case of the Philippine veteran. The agencies which prepared the proposed bill have recognized this fact and have dealt with the legislation on a practical basis, including only that which is susceptible of proper administration. While its enactment will not cure in toto the present discrimination against the Philippine veteran, the proposed legislation constitutes all that is practicable at the present time, and it will clearly indicate to the Filipinos that it is the purpose of the United States Government to do justice to their veterans. More important, it will provide the help so direly needed by many Filipinos who served our cause with unwavering devotion in the face of bitter hardship and wanton cruelty.

I am directing the Veterans' Administration, the War Department and the High Commissioner to the Philippines to give consideration to a practicable method of providing some educational opportunity for the Philippine veteran and of assuring, so far as possible, employment for him. If these additional benefits can be put into effect, it is my view, as well as the view of those interested, that substantial justice will have been done the Philippine veteran and the existing discrimination against him removed.

The proposed legislation has the full endorsement of the Veterans' Administration, the War Department, and the High Commissioner to the Philippines. I urge upon you its early enactment.

I am also writing to the Speaker of the House (President pro tempore of the Senate), forwarding another copy of the proposed bill.

Very sincerely yours,

HARRY S. TRUMAN

Note: This is the text of identical letters addressed to the Honorable Kenneth McKellar, President pro tempore of the Senate, and to the Honorable Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The draft bill transmitted with the President's letter was introduced as S. 2235 and H.R. 6805 and referred to committee.

On June 4 the White House released a letter, dated May 21, which the President had received from the Honorable Manuel Roxas, President-elect of the Philippines. In his letter, Mr. Roxas stated that the President's "action in sending the Philippine Veterans Bill to Congress was greeted here with the same feeling of gratitude which has attended all of the other generous acts of the American people with regard to us. I trust that Congress will act speedily on this matter."

Pharaoh and the Sergeant

                     Rudyard Kipling, 1897

 
Said England unto Pharaoh, "I must make a man of you,

  That will stand upon his feet and play the game;

That will Maxim his oppressor as a Christian ought to do,"

  And she sent old Pharaoh Sergeant Whatisname.

    It was not a Duke nor Earl, nor yet a Viscount --

      It was not a big brass General that came;

    But a man in khaki kit who could handle men a bit,

      With his bedding labelled Sergeant Whatisname.

Said England unto Pharaoh,  "Though at present singing small,

  You shall hum a proper tune before it ends,"

And she introduced old Pharaoh to the Sergeant once for all,

  And left 'em in the desert making friends.

    It was not a Crystal Palace nor Cathedral;

      It was not a public-house of common fame;

    But a piece of red-hot sand, with a palm on either hand,

      And a little hut for Sergeant Whatisname.

Said England unto Pharaoh, "You 've had miracles before,

  When Aaron struck your rivers into blood;

But if you watch the Sergeant he can show vou something more.                                   '

  He's a charm for making riflemen from mud."

    It was neither Hindustani, French, nor Coptics;

      It was odds and ends and leavings of the same,

    Translated by a stick (which is really half the trick),

      And Pharaoh harked to Sergeant Whatisname.

(There were y ears that no one talked of; there were times of horrid doubt --

  There was faith and hope and whacking and despair --

While the Sergeant gave the Cautions and he combed old Pharaoh out,

  And England didn't seem to know nor care.

    That is England's awful way o' doing business --

      She would serve her God (or Gordon) just the same --

    For she thinks her Empire still is the Strand and Hol born Hill,

      And she didn't think of Sergeant Whatisname.)

Said England to the Sergeant, "You can let my people go!"

   (England used 'em cheap and nasty from the start),

And they entered 'em in battle on a most astonished foe --

   But the Sergeant he had hardened Pharaoh's heart

     Which was broke, along of all the plagues of Egypt,

       Three thousand years before the Sergeant came

     And he mended it again in a little more than ten,

       Till Pharaoh fought like Sergeant Whatisname.

It was wicked bad campaigning (cheap and nasty from the first),

  There was heat and dust and coolie-work and sun,

There were vipers; flies, and sandstorms, there was cholera and thirst,

  But Pharaoh done the best he ever done.

    Down the desert, down the railway, down the river,

      Like Israelites From bondage so he came,

    'Tween the clouds o' dust and fire to the land of his desire,

      And his Moses, it was Sergeant Whatisname!

We are eating dirt in handfuls for to save our daily bread,

  Which we have to buy from those that hate us most,

And we must not raise the money where the Sergeant raised the dead,

  And it's wrong and bad and dangerous to boast.

    But he did it on the cheap and on the quiet,

    And he's not allowed to forward any claim --

  Though he drilled a black man white, though he made a mummy fight,

    He will still continue Sergeant Whatisname --

  Private, Corporal, Colour-Sergeant, and Instructor --

    But the everlasting miracle's the same!