Philippine Embassy Explores Filipino Contributions to U.S. Naval History at Naval Academy Museum

A visit to the U.S. Naval Academy Museum offered Philippine Embassy personnel a closer look at a history that stretches from Filipino sailors in the American Civil War to pioneering officers, Medal of Honor recipient Telesforo Trinidad, and a new generation of Filipino midshipmen in Annapolis.

Walking through the United States Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, Philippine Embassy personnel encountered names, photographs and artifacts that brought a familiar story into a different setting. Among the many chapters of U.S. naval history preserved inside the Museum are stories of Filipinos who served at sea, entered the Naval Academy, distinguished themselves in uniform and, over generations, became part of the history of the U.S. Navy.

The Embassy organized the special tour as part of its observance of Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month (MANAMo). Led by Deputy Chief of Mission Felipe F. Cariño III, the delegation was guided through the Museum by SSG Sondra Duplantis (USA, Ret.), its Education Specialist, with assistance from U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen. What emerged over the course of the visit was a story spanning more than 160 years one shaped not only by governments and ships, but also by individual Filipinos whose lives connected the Philippines and the United States across the Pacific.

A Filipino Presence Going Back Generations

One of the earliest stories encountered during the tour took the delegation back to the American Civil War. On 5 August 1864, Filipinos were among those who served with Union naval forces during the Battle of Mobile Bay, where Rear Admiral David G. Farragut led his fleet through Confederate defenses to capture the strategically important port. The battle would become remembered for Farragut’s famous command, commonly paraphrased as “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!”

For the Embassy delegation, however, the story also offered a glimpse of just how far back Filipino connections to the U.S. Navy extend. As MIDN 2/C Austin Wilson described the battle and the Filipinos who served alongside Union forces, the episode placed Filipino sailors within an American naval story decades before the beginning of the 20th century.

That connection became more formal in 1901, when U.S. President William McKinley issued an executive order providing for the enlistment of Filipinos and Guamanians into the Insular Force of the U.S. Navy. Filipino service would continue for generations, eventually becoming an important tradition within Filipino communities connected to the Navy.

The Courage of Telesforo Trinidad

Among the Filipinos whose stories have endured, few occupy a place as distinctive as Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Telesforo Trinidad. During the tour, Wilson read aloud Trinidad’s Medal of Honor citation, giving the Embassy delegation an opportunity to revisit the actions that made the Filipino sailor a lasting figure in U.S. naval history.

In 1915, Trinidad was serving aboard the USS San Diego when a boiler explosion endangered members of the crew. Despite the danger, he went back to rescue fellow sailors. His actions earned him the Medal of Honor, making him the first and, to date, only Filipino to receive the United States’ highest military decoration.

More than a century later, Trinidad’s name is set to return to sea. A future U.S. Navy vessel will be named the USS Telesforo Trinidad, carrying forward the memory of a Filipino sailor whose courage became part of the Navy’s history. The recognition gives his story particular resonance for succeeding generations of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans who have followed a similar path of naval service.

Filipinos Who Broke New Ground

The tour also introduced Embassy personnel to Filipinos whose careers marked important firsts. Among the Museum’s historical records is the yearbook photograph of Col. Jose Emilio Olivares, who became the first Filipino graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in 1923. His graduation established an early Filipino connection to an institution that continues to welcome Filipino international students today.

Another figure highlighted was aviation officer Julio Ereneta, a veteran of two World Wars whose service included an assignment aboard the USS Rizal. The ship itself carried a distinctly Philippine identity: donated by the Insular Government of the Philippines, it was named in honor of Philippine national hero Dr. Jose Rizal.

In a later generation, Capt. Jose Ricardo “Dick” Corpus made another breakthrough when he became the first Filipino-American to command a U.S. Navy submarine. Taken together, the careers of Olivares, Ereneta, Corpus and others show how Filipino participation in the U.S. Navy developed over time, gradually opening paths into a wider range of specialties and leadership roles.

Opening More Doors for Filipino Sailors

The Philippines’ independence in 1946 began a new political chapter between the two countries, but Filipino recruitment into the U.S. Navy continued. Under an agreement between the Philippines and the United States, Filipinos continued to be recruited annually into naval service, sustaining a tradition that would become familiar to many Filipino families.

Opportunities expanded further in 1970, when executive orders addressing discrimination in the service made Filipinos eligible for any enlisted rating for which they met requirements in education, previous experience and security qualifications. These changes allowed Filipino sailors to move into a broader range of professional roles rather than being limited to particular areas of service.

Over the decades that followed, Filipinos comprised the largest percentage of foreign-born recruits in the U.S. Navy for many years. Filipino-Americans have continued that tradition of enlistment, turning what began as individual stories of service into a connection spanning families and generations.

Pieces of the Philippines in Annapolis

Some of the Philippine stories inside the Museum are told not through military records, but through objects. The USNA’s collections include Philippine gifts and artifacts donated or presented over the years, including examples of traditional weapons, basketry and costumes. During the tour, MIDN 2/C Ian Mullaney showed the delegation a headhunters sword from the Philippines that forms part of the Academy’s archival collection.

Elsewhere in the Museum, the Philippines appears within the larger history of the Second World War. One display depicts Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz signing the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri on 2 September 1945 and includes Nimitz’s original uniform and items associated with the historic signing. The display also contains a Japanese sword surrendered to General Douglas MacArthur during a separate ceremony in the Philippines, connecting the Museum’s account of the war’s conclusion with events that unfolded in the country.

Seen together, these objects offer another way of understanding the long relationship between the Philippines and the United States. They are reminders that maritime history is preserved not only through accounts of battles and prominent leaders, but also through the objects, personal belongings and cultural materials that survive them.

A Story Still Being Written

The connection between Filipinos and the Naval Academy is not confined to its archives. Helping with the tour were two Filipinos currently studying at the USNA as international students, MIDN 1/C Sharmaine Sumampong and MIDN 2/C Rouzhen Alaponta, who joined Duplantis, Wilson and Mullaney in welcoming the Embassy delegation.

Their presence gave the historical tour a contemporary dimension. Nearly a century after Jose Emilio Olivares became the first Filipino to graduate from the Academy, Filipino midshipmen continue to study and train in Annapolis, adding their own experiences to a relationship built across generations.

The U.S. Naval Academy serves as the undergraduate college of the U.S. naval service, preparing future professional officers of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Its two-floor Museum documents the history and development of the Navy, but for the Embassy delegation, the visit also revealed how Philippine stories are woven throughout that larger history.

Remembering the Philippines as a Maritime Nation

The Embassy’s visit formed part of MANAMo 2026, observed under the theme “Karapatan sa Karagatan, Sama-Sama Nating Alagaan.” The commemoration places attention on the Philippines’ character as a maritime and archipelagic nation and on the shared responsibility of Filipinos to understand, appreciate and preserve the country’s maritime heritage.

The stories encountered in Annapolis add a less familiar chapter to that heritage. From Filipinos serving at Mobile Bay in 1864, to Telesforo Trinidad risking his life for his shipmates in 1915, to Jose Emilio Olivares graduating from the Naval Academy in 1923, each story reflects a different moment in a relationship shaped by the sea.

Today, that history continues through Filipino and Filipino-American men and women who have made naval service part of their own lives and through Filipino midshipmen now studying at the Academy. For the Embassy personnel who walked through the Museum, the tour was therefore more than an encounter with objects from the past. It was an opportunity to see how generations of Filipinos have found their place within a much larger maritime story and how that story continues to unfold on both sides of the Pacific.

Photo Credits: Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Washington, D.C.

Source: Official Website of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.