Filipino-American Char McGinnis was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force just in time for the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPIHM), the United States Embassy in Manila said in a post on Twitter Saturday, May 8.
McGinnis, who grew up in Hawaii, said that the site of her ceremony is significant to her because of her Filipino grandfather.
"I'm a descendant of a Filipino World War II veteran and that's why we had to have the ceremony aboard the USS Missouri, the site of the end of World War II,” she said as quoted by the U.S Embassy in the post.
McGinnis hasn’t always been active in the Filipino community, she admitted on a public Facebook post in October last year. She started participating in the activities and programs only when she was chosen as one of the delegates for the Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO) in 2018.
Since then, she held the position of secretary in the program, and has once contributed to a program that provided relief goods to families in Pasay City.
On the same Facebook post that shared a video about Filipino-American Servicemembers and their contributions to the U.S military, McGinnis mentioned that her mother hasn’t always approved of her joining the U.S military.
“My mom did not initially approve of my desire to join the military. Maybe because the U.S just went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe it's because I'm her only daughter. Maybe because my grandfather fought in WWII in the Philippines and dealt with PTSD his entire life,” she said.
But during a self-reflection, McGinnis said the idea for the video project started.
“‘What have we accomplished as Filipino-Americans in the US military?’ ‘How come we are not talking about it?’ Along the way, I learned more about myself and realized the enormous responsibility I have to represent my culture and people,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) also on Saturday commemorated the beginning of the United Nations' Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs joins the international community in honoring the memory of the estimated 527,000 Filipinos, both military and civilian, who lost their lives throughout the war,” the DFA said on a Twitter post.
“May their memory serve to remind us of the cost of reclaiming lawful peace in the 20th Century as we stand to defend it in the 21st,” it added.