Hello GELO Memorial Things Just The TFC Hour with Beginning GELO to headline Day Event one of the events, The 9th Annual to Sizzle Sat., May 26, Veterans Memorial Are their innocent 7:30 p.m. at this Day Service will meetings over merienda year’s Barrio Fiesta! begin at noon, May really so “innocent?” 26 at Barrio Fiesta. Read the “Scandal.” Page 1 Page 1 Page 9 May 2018 · Vo l 2 N o5 FILIPINO AMERICAN VOIC E • U PLIFTING OUR COMMUNITY FREE inside Memorial Day and FSharionl Zialpsos ino Veterans hat does Memorial placed on each tomb stone Day mean to you? that spreads across the lawn This month’s columnist It comes and goes of the Veterans Cemetery. reveals senior’s goals. See year after year. When you ask Sometime during the official Google Is Not Everything . Wmost kids these days, it means ceremony, a visit from a heli - p.8 no school for the keiki or a copter takes place as it drops holiday for the working class. thousands upon thousands of On the front lawn of the rose petals and other local Kalana O Maui, 200 South blooms above the cemetery. High Street in Wailuku also I’ve witnessed this several known as the County Build - times already. I try my best to ing, you can count on seeing have my son accompany me tents set up with dozens of each time. From a young age, volunteers getting lei ready he was taught the value of From a young age, my son was taught the value of each of our These are not the only for the Memorial Day ceremo - each of our servicemen and servicemen and women. He is well aware of the sacrifices others Barrio Fiesta favorites! ny usually held at the women. He is well aware of have made in order for the rest of us to live in this blessed coun - Maui Pinoy takes a look. Makawao Veterans Cemetery. the sacrifices others have try of America. see MEMORIAL DAY p.2 p.15 Each year, a small U.S. flag is Time to choose; the red pill or the blue pill... Sen. Keith- BAlfreado Gr. Evrangieloista | AFSSISiTAeNT sE DtITOaR : 49 Years and Counting Agaran on legislators. p.19 emorial Day is right around the corner and for al - most fifty years, Maui’s Barrio MFiesta has been held during or near the Memorial Day week - end. This year’s 49th Annual Barrio Fiesta, the longest run - ning fiesta in the United States, promises many of the crowd favorites and some new features to encourage folks to attend this Filipino cultural event. The 49th Annual Barrio Fi - esta, with its hashtag #bar - riofiestamaui2018 will start on Friday, May 25 (from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.) and contin - ue through Saturday, May 26 (from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.). New Features The Good Shepherd Episcopal Church Filipino Folk Dancers are shown here in their patadyong skirts and attire during the Barrio Wear contest at a previous Barrio Fiesta. There are two new contests see FIESTA p.3 PHOTO : A LFREDO EVANGELISTA Sharon Zalsos (left) positions a lei as part of the ceremony. During the 46th Barrio Fiesta, the outdoor stage was set, and the memorial service was held at the War Memorial Soccer Field in Wailuku. time as his training. He replied that he men and women who died in the line Force veteran, who was very active in Memorial Day… doesn’t have to be a part of any for - of duty or while in active duty service. Maui’s veteran community. I will be from p. 1 mal ceremony to honor our fallen. He Veterans Day celebrates the service of participating again and I encourage all said he visits first thing in the morning all U.S. military veterans. to attend to pay homage to our veter - made in order for the rest of us to live and honors them in his own way. No Do you recall Operation Iraqi Free - ans who often are forgotten. in this blessed country of America. crowd, no bands, no glitz. That made dom which followed 9/11? We have a One such group of forgotten Veter - One of my personal mentors has a me think, we can each have our own fallen soldier by the name Sergeant ans are the Filipinos who fought side standing commitment each Saturday way of paying tribute. What a con - First Class (SFC) Kelly Bolor who died by side Americans during World War morning that spans from 9 a.m. to cept. So I asked again, what does Me - on November 15, 2003. He was 37 II. Over 260,000 Filipinos fought in 2 p.m. This is a training session for his morial Day mean to you, personally? years old at the time. He was serving World War II on behalf of the United business and he doesn’t miss. He hap - Memorial Day by definition is a with the 137th Quartermaster Compa - States and many of them paid the ul - pens to be an Air Force veteran and I federal holiday in the United States. It ny, U.S. Army Reserve, based in South timate sacrifice. invited him to accompany me to a me - is the day to remember the people El Monte, California. He died when How well do you know your histo - morial service in 2017. I knew full who died while servicing in the U.S. two 101st Airborne Division (Air As - ry? On December 21 of 1935, the well that his answer would most likely armed forces. This holiday is observed sault) UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters Philippine Commonwealth Army was be no thank you but I was curious. He every year on the last Monday of May. went down in Mosul, Iraq. “He said created by Philippine Commonwealth smiled and he told me that he has This year this falls on May 28, 2018. after everything was done, he wanted Act Number 1. Since the threat from never missed an opportunity to visit For all you students, this usually to come home and relax,” recalled his Japan was imminent, a new command the Makawao Veteran cemetery to pay marks the beginning of summer vaca - brother, Conrad Bolor. The late Bolor in the Far East was created on July tribute to our fallen each year. I tion season. was born in Wailuku and raised in La - 26, 1941 known as United States scratched my head and asked how Many confuse Memorial Day with haina. He was the third- Army Forces Far East or that was possible since the formal cer - Veterans Day. Just remember, Memo - oldest of five boys and a “My grandfather, USAFFE. Then President emony starts at 10 a.m., the same rial Day is a day of remembering the girl raised in a Filipino Franklin D. Roosevelt is - Filipe Abonales family. He was raised by sued the presidential or - his mother, Annie, after Zalsos… waited der which called the she was widowed in year-after-year, Philippine Common - 1968. Bolor was a mem - wealth Army into the for the American ber of the Lahainaluna service of the Armed wrestling team and en - promise of Forces of the United listed in the U.S. Army receiving full States. Orders issued by soon after graduation general officer of the veterans benefits from high school. He is United States Army survived by his wife Kel - for serving were mobilized and ly and son Kyle. Bolor alongside the made an integral part of was laid to rest at Maui the USAFFE. United States Memorial Park in Despite their service, Wailuku. Armed Forces.” these Filipino Veterans, There are countless –SHARON ZALSOS who were U.S. Nation - casualties of war in the als, were disqualified Filipino community from receiving the same from different wars. To include mili - rights, benefits, and privileges as oth - tary fatal casualties of the Vietnam ers who served under the U.S. Armed War: Catalino B. Antonio, Jr., he was Forces (Rescissions Act of 1946). an Air Force Sgt. from Maui. He died What is the Rescissions Act of 1946 on August 18, 1972. His remains were exactly? This United States law recovered. Albert Babanayan, he was retroactively canceled the benefits that a Corporal in the Marine Corps. He would have been payable to Filipino died on March 5, 1966. His remains troops on account of their military were also recovered. Magno Campos, services under the auspice of the Unit - who was a Staff Sergeant in the Army. ed States during the time that the He died on November 8, 1965, his re - Philippines was a U.S. territory and mains were recovered. The list goes Filipinos were U.S. nationals. The ra - on and on with names of those who tionale provided by the U.S. Congress paid the ultimate sacrifice. For every in 1946 was that the United States remains recovered, there are many gave the Philippines two hundred mil - more unaccounted for and they re - lion dollars ($200,000,000) after the main missing in action or MIA. war. At the upcoming Barrio Fiesta dur - In 2009, the American Recovery ing Memorial Day weekend, the 9th and Reinvest Act provided for a one- Annual Veterans Memorial Service will time $15,000 lump sum for the surviv - be held at 12 noon on Saturday, May ing veterans who are U.S. Citizens, 26. The solemn ceremony includes the and a $9,000 lump sum settlement for POW/MIA ceremony, which remem - non-citizens. Eligible people had one bers the thousands of Americans who year from the time of passage of the are still prisoners of war or missing in bill to file claims.