Saturnino Ramos Silva

Canadian passenger list. Destination San Francisco. He is listed as a teacher here: Name: Saturnino Silva Gender: Male Age: 22 Estimated birth year: abt 1907

Date of Arrival: 1 Jun 1929 Vessel: Empress of Asia Search Ship Database: View the 'Empress of Asia' in the 'Passenger Ships and Images' database Port of Arrival: Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia Port of Departure: Manila, Philippines

Roll: T-14893 Enlistment Date: 22 Jul 1941, San Francisco, California Branch: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA Grade: Private Component: Selectees (Enlisted Men)

Naturalised American 10 Apr 1943 (aged 33).

Source: Civil Life

Education: 4 years of college Civil Occupation: Secretaries Marital Status: Single, without dependants Height: 66 Weight: 132

"At the outbreak of the war, our Dad, Saturnino (Tony) Ramos Silva, a graduate from San Francisco State College, was one of seven thousand Filipinos in the United States that immediately enlisted in the US Army to help in the liberation of their homeland. After extensive interviews, he, along with five hundred volunteer Filipinos were chosen and flown to Australia to undergo the AIB’s commando and reconnaissance training for secret missions in the Philippines. .."

Tony Silva was despatched on a secret ‘guerrilla submarine’ mission to Mindanao in the southern Philippines, and never returned to Australia. The USS Narwhal (SS-167) departed Port Darwin on 14 February 1944 with four Filipino soldiers, on her tenth wartime patrol.

On her tenth war patrol – from 16 February – 20 March — Narwhal delivered more ammunition to Butuan Bay on 2 March. With 28 new people on board, she departed on 3 March for Tawi-Tawi. That evening, she damaged Karatsu (the captured USS Luzon (PR-7)) and was heavily bombarded with depth charges by enemy escorts for her trouble. On the night of 5 March, two small boats – assisted by rubber boats from Narwhal — put off for shore with cargo. Three Japanese destroyers closed in later; she eluded them and transferred her passengers, now a total of 38, to Chinampa on 11 March before docking at Fremantle.

Narwhal, with Commander Jack C. Titus in command, departed on her 11th war patrol – from 7 May – 9 June – for Alusan Bay, Samar, where she landed 22 men and supplies, including electric lamps, radio parts, and flour for the priests, the night of 24 May. By 1 June, the submarine was unloading 16 men and stores on the southwest coast of Mindanao. She ended this patrol at Port Darwin.

He was the Commanding Officer of the 130th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army in the Philippines (USFIP) under the 10th Military District in Mindanao. From May 3-10, 1945, he led 1,500 of his men in the Battle of Ising. Ising is the river in Carmen town, Davao del Norte. He ordered his unit to advance faster to take cover in the trench along Ising River. The 50-caliber machine guns mounted at Ising Bridge, two mortars installed at the left flank and the 35-mm canon placed at the right of the national highway saved the guerrillas from being overrun by the advancing counter offensive of the Japanese. The battle that ensued was considerably one of the most decisive battles against the Japanese forces in the country took place 70 years ago as it hastened the liberation of Mindanao from the hands of the Japanese.The battle practically stopped the Japanese soldiers, then garrisoned in Carmen, from escaping to northern Davao and the jungles of Agusan when the American troops were already approaching from Digos town in Davao del Sur. North Davao and Agusan were still unconquered wilderness at that time and would have given refuge to the Japanese soldiers. The headquarters of the US South West Pacific Area (SWPA) regarded the Mindanao guerrilla movement as the best organized among the resistance groups in the Philippines and that radio signals from Darwin, Australia, were heard very clear in Mindanao, allowing McArthur to keep constant communication with the guerrillas.

Silva acquitted himself well by all accounts in training a local guerrilla force, earning the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, but he was badly wounded in the Battle of Ising in May 1945 and was evacuated back to America.

He is reported to be the first Filipino drafted into the U.S. Army in World War II.