Hometown: Killeen, TX
Branch: U.S. Army
Unit: Company A, 57th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Scouts
Military Honors: Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: February 29, 1964 - Fort Hood, TX
Age: 52 
Conflict: Vietnam War, 1959-1975

Master Sergeant Gaudencio Licerio was a career soldier who served his country in three different conflicts: World War II (1939-1945), the Korean War (1950-1953), and the Vietnam War (1959-1975).

Born in Pandacan, Manila, the Philippines, Licerio became a naturalized U.S. citizen and served with the U.S. Army in World War II with the Philippine Scouts. On December 8, 1941, Imperial Japan invaded the Philippines just ten hours after attacking the American fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

According to the U.S. Army’s description of the Philippine Scouts:

“These were General Douglas MacArthur’s soldiers—the guys who fought America’s first battle of World War II. The Philippine Division. Probably the best trained and possibly the best prepared U.S. Army division at the outset of the war.

“Some of them were farm boys from California and Kansas, and Italian-Americans from New Jersey, as depicted in the black and white movies made during and after World War II. However, many of them were professional Filipino soldiers serving in the U.S. Army, commanded by American officers. They were special men in special units, officially designated ‘Philippine Scouts,’ a term applied both to the Filipino enlisted men and to their American officers. For a young Filipino man, acceptance into the Philippine Scouts was a distinct honor—as was service in the Scout units for American officers.”

For his actions in the battle to hold the Bataan Peninsula, on the island of Luzon, Licerio was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. His citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Staff Sergeant [then Sergeant] Gaudencio Licerio (ASN: 6866189), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Company A, 57th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Scouts, in action against enemy forces on 28 March 1942, at Bataan, in the Philippine Islands. During the battle of Anyasen Point, Staff Sergeant Licerio was designated by his company commander as leader of a suicide squad. Under heavy enemy fire, Sergeant Licerio engaged the enemy with hand grenades, thereby enabling his battalion to go forward and later to take the enemy positions. Staff Sergeant Licerio’s intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

The American forces’ success in the battle of Anyasan Point was short-lived, as there were no reinforcements or basic supplies on the way. Their ordeal was just beginning. For three months, the American and Filipino soldiers held out, despite a lack of naval and air support. Malnourished and exhausted, there was no choice for U.S. General Edward King, Jr. but to surrender to the larger and better-equipped Japanese forces.

75,000 surviving Filipino and American defenders of Bataan were marched 65 miles to Japanese Prisoner of War camps. The Japanese provided no water, food, or medical care to the prisoners. Along the way, the captors brutalized their prisoners, beating and murdering them with bayonets. Later known as the infamous Bataan Death March, more than 10,000 men were lost.

A survivor of the battle of Anyasen Point and the Bataan Death March, Gaudencio Licerio continued his career as a U.S. soldier, serving during the Korean amd Vietnam Wars. Master Sergeant Gaudencio Licerio died of natural causes while stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen Texas on February 29, 1964, at the age of 52.

Five decades after his death, the Congress of the United States honored Filipino Veterans of World War II with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor awarded in the United States. More than 250,000 Filipinos, including MSG Gaudencio Licerio, fought with American troops from July 1941 to December 1946.

At the ceremony on October 25, 2017, House Speaker Paul Ryan remarked, “This is a day that is long, long overdue. Everyone knows about Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Perhaps lesser known is that, within hours, Japanese forces also invaded the Philippines…American and Filipino forces fought side-by-side to stave off the invasion.” The Speaker credited the Filipinos for their “incredible valor and sacrifice” that helped lead Allied powers to victory in the Pacific and European theaters of World War II.

Sources
Details submitted by Ms. Claire Shadden, MSG Licerio’s granddaughter.
Card photo: Philippine Scouts Heritage Society
Military Times, Hall of Valor Project: Gaudencio Licerio
Philippine Scouts Heritage Society: History of the Philippine Scouts
Philippine Scouts Heritage Society: 57th Infantry Regiment (PS)
Army.mil: The U.S. Army’s Philippine Scouts
History Channel: Bataan Death March
United States House of Representatives: Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony, Filipino Veterans of World War II are honored