Obituary: Baltazar Agbunag earned Bronze Star in WWII
By Robert D. Dávila
bdavila@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Feb. 13, 2009 | Page 6B
Baltazar Agbunag, a proud Filipino immigrant who answered the Army's call for volunteers to liberate his homeland during World War II, died Monday at age 99.
He died of complications related to a urinary tract infection, said his granddaughter Jennifer Solorio.
Mr. Agbunag joined the wave of Filipino field hands, cannery workers, cooks and servants who flooded U.S. enlistment offices after Japan attacked the Philippines on Dec. 8, 1941. He signed up as a rifleman with the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment and was promoted to corporal.
"The Army needed people who knew the terrain to fight," Solorio said. "He had family there. He had to go."
Mr. Agbunag served as a squad leader in New Guinea and the Philippines. He was awarded the Bronze Star for volunteering on a secret mission to extend communication lines and gather intelligence on Luzon island in the Philippines. He also received the Asiatic-Pacific Medal and the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with two bronze stars.
Naturalized as an American citizen in the military, he married Josefina Garcia in the Philippines in 1946 and settled in Sacramento. He built a cinder-block house and garage by hand on an empty lot in the rural Florin area, where many Filipinos settled after the war.
"Anytime someone walked through the door, he'd insist they sit down and eat," Solorio said. "He had many friends."
Baltazar Camaro Agbunag was born in 1910 to farmers in San Juan, La Union. He left school after ninth grade for a better life and made his way by ship to Seattle. He encountered racism while working during the Great Depression as a farmhand in Washington state, Oregon and California.
"He used to talk about the soup lines – one for Americans and one for Chinese," said his daughter, Myrna Agbunag. "He got in the Chinese line because they had noodles. He didn't want the bread and water the Americans got."
After the war, Mr. Agbunag built and packed ammunition crates for 25 years at the Sacramento Army Depot. He was a lifetime member of American Legion Magellan Post 604 and an active volunteer at St. Paul Catholic Church.
He enjoyed simple pleasures, including carpentry, fishing and eating lunch at J.J. North's restaurant. He grew fruits and vegetables and raised goats at home. He had three children, including a son, David, who died in 1984.
Mr. Agbunag was a strong and determined man who drove until he was 92 years old and walked within three weeks after breaking his hip and having it replaced last year. Quiet and dignified, he was a patriarch of four generations reared on values of faith, education and hard work.
"He worked hard all his life, saved his money and provided for his family," Solorio said. "He was a very proud man."
Obituary: Baltazar Agbunag earned Bronze Star in WWII - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee
Obituary: Baltazar Agbunag earned Bronze Star in WWII
