At least four Filipino-American soldiers have died in Iraq and Afghanistan within a three- month period from August to October 2004, bringing to over a dozen the number of U.S. soldiers of Filipino descent who perished in the ongoing U.S.-led war against terrorism, the Filipino Reporter has learned.
A father of one of the victims, mourning the loss of his son, called for a “leadership change” in America, saying “the President rushed our troops into battle.”
As of this week, there are over 1,100 American soldiers who have lost their lives since the war against Iraq began in March 2003, and more than 7,700 wounded in action, according to the Pentagon.
Among the Fil-Am soldiers killed were Army Capt. Dennis L. Pintor, 30, of Lima, Ohio; Spc. Kyle K. Fernandez, 26, of Pearl City, Hawaii; Army Sgt. 1st Class Joselito O. Villanueva, 36, of Van Nuys, California; and Army Spc. Edgar P. Daclan Jr., 24, of Long Beach, California.
Capt. Dennis Pintor
Capt. Pintor, a 1998 West Point graduate, was killed Oct. 12 when an improvised explosive went off on the roadside, while he was riding in a lead convoy vehicle in Baghdad. He was stationed in Iraq since March, with the 20th Engineer Battalion B from Fort Hood, Texas.
“He was a commander, so he was in the lead vehicle and he was the first one to be hit by the bomb,” said a close family friend, Lillian Abelita. “Three of his men also died in the blast.”
A day before the tragedy, Pintor e-mailed Ohio’s local paper, Lima News, asking for help to give the Iraqi children school supplies.
“He died the next day and his last wish was not even for himself, it was for the Iraqi children,” Abelita said.
Pintor, a graduate of the Army Ranger School, joined the Army after high school so he could earn his education. “He wanted the family’s resources to be available for his younger brother and two sisters,” said an uncle, David Garrison Jr.
He left behind his wife, Stacy, and a 4-year-old daughter, Rhea, in Killeen, Texas. His parents, Alberto and Ellen Pintor, sold their Ohio home this summer and retired to the Philippines.
Spc. Kyle Fernandez
Spc. Fernandez of Pearl City and four other U.S. soldiers were reportedly on a routine patrol in Uruzgan province, northwest of Deh Rawood in Afghanistan when a remote-controlled homemade bomb detonated under their Humvee last Oct. 14, killing Fernandez and another soldier. The remaining three were wounded.
Fernandez enlisted in the Army three years ago and was assigned to Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion of the 25th Infantry Division, in August. He was given a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his ultimate sacrifice. He left behind his wife, Celeste, and their four-year-old daughter, Kyla, and a one-year-old son, Keahi. His survivors also include his parents Renald and Noe Fernandez, brother Koa, and sister Kehau.
His father Renald called for a “leadership change.”
“This president rushed our troops into battle,” Renald told reporters. “I’m not endorsing any candidate, but I think we do need a change. I think we should exercise our right to vote ... A leadership change would eventually, perhaps, lead to different policy, where maybe the troops could come home.”
Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, Hawaii’s adjutant general, said “a loss like this is always tragic,” but added that he thinks the Bush Administration is taking the right steps in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fernandez’s brother Koa, 24, enlisted in the Army early this year and was set to report for duty on Nov. 2. But because of his brother’s death, the Army has given him the option to get out of his service commitment.
Sgt. Joselito Villanueva
Sgt. 1st Class Villanueva was killed in a Sept. 27 ambush by a sniper’s bullet in Balad, Iraq. Known to his colleagues as Sgt. V, he was on a routine patrol when his convoy saw a truck driven by an Iraqi civilian crash around 8:30 a.m. As Villanueva got out to help, a hidden sniper fatally shot him.
Just last April, Villanueva earned a Purple Heart when a roadside bomb exploded next to his Humvee, killing one of his soldiers. A small piece of shrapnel pierced his neck and he nearly died, too.
Born in the Philippines, Villanueva joined the Army in 1986 and was assigned to the 9th Engineer Battalion, 1st Infantry Division in Schweinfurt, Germany. He served in Operation Desert Storm and Kosovo. A combat engineer, he was deployed to Iraq last February as the platoon sergeant for Company C’s 2nd platoon.
He was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart to go with two National Defense medals, four good conduct medals, four Army achievement medals, and one Purple Heart he had already received.
He is survived by his parents, Edito and Pilarita Villanueva.
Spc. Edgar Daclan Jr.
Spc. Daclan, an Army combat medic, was killed Sept. 10 when a hidden explosive device detonated near his unit in the central Iraqi city of Balad, north of Baghdad. A Department of Defense statement said Daclan’s patrol was responding to indirect gunfire when a roadside bomb exploded.
Born in Cebu City, Philippines, he was 8-years old when he and his family moved to the United States, in 1993. The family lived in Long Beach for one year before settling in Torrance, a suburb in Los Angeles.
He was only two semesters shy of finishing his electrical engineering degree when he surprised his family and voluntarily gave up the peaceful, tree-shaded hills of California State University, Long Beach, for the war-torn sands of Iraq. There was no draft and he didn’t have to go, but the way he saw it, there was no other choice.
“Edgar decided that he was needed,” said his sister Iris Daclan of Annapolis, Maryland. “He knew what he was getting into. He knew there was a war. Because we’re immigrants here, because this country has done so much for us, he wanted to serve the country.”
About eight months into his tour of duty in Iraq, Daclan – who belonged to the 1st Infantry Division’s 18th Infantry stationed in Germany – was scheduled to come back to Southern California on leave Sept. 25.
Daclan did not just take care of his soldiers, according to his platoon leader 1st Lt. Jon R. Martin. “He often found himself aiding Iraqis wounded in accidents simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Martin said. “He would not discriminate.”
Daclan, who was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, is survived by his parents Gertrude and Edgar Daclan Sr., five sisters – Iris, Aileen, Ira, Sheila and Sunshine – all of Torrance.
