Speaker Presentation with Erik F. Brun, “1st Filipino Infantry Battalion at Camp San Luis Obispo”

RESCHEDULED – NEW DATE IS FRIDAY, JUNE 21st, at 2:00 pm

Speaker presentation at the museum. RSVP to attend: https://form.jotform.com/222782338215153

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the War Department moved to mobilize Filipino men living in the United States who had been barred from service by law, despite a forty year history of Philippine Scout service in the Army. On December 21, 1941, the United States Congress passed the Filipino Naturalization Bill, allowing a Filipino combat unit to be formed.

The U.S. Army’s 1st Filipino Infantry Battalion was activated at Camp San Luis Obispo, CA, on April 1st, 1942, just days before the Philippine and American forces surrendered at Bataan, and the Island Fortress of Corregidor, after four months of fierce resistance.

Due to overwhelming response from the Filipino community the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment was activated in July, and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiment in October. By wars end, seven hundred of these Filipino soldiers became the core of Army Special Operations in the Western Pacific, in reconnaissance, communications, and counter intelligence missions alongside the Alamo Scouts.

RSVP to attend: https://form.jotform.com/222782338215153

For questions, please email the museum at [email protected] or call (805) 543-1763

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Guest Speaker:

Erik Brun, Lt Col US Retired, completed a thirty year career as an Army Logistics Officer serving as a battalion commander and Group Support Operations Officer (SOO). He holds an MBA and Masters Degree in Public History focused on researching the battalion’s Saga. Erik served as the president of the 99th Infantry Battalion Education Foundation from 2014 – 2023.

His research has focused on the history of American Army units composed of “others”, collected by race, ethnicity or nationality. He is a co-editor of a recent book: The Viking Battalion: Norwegian American Ski Troops in World War II.