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San Diego celebrates naming of US Navy ship after Fil-Am sailor

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Steve Angeles | TFC News San Diego

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZKcbgzfbaIg?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>San Diego&#x27;s Filipino community closed out Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and observed Memorial Day by celebrating a Filipino American World War 1 hero and representation.Less than two weeks ago, the US Navy approved the naming of a ship after Telesforo Trinidad, a Fil-Am sailor who saved a pair of shipmates in a boiler room explosion aboard the USS San Diego in 1915.Trinidad&#x27;s heroic act earned him a Medal of Honor, but his name had yet to be immortalized despite such acts traditionally being honored with landmarks. Last year, community leader JoAnn Fields, along with other groups, began a nationwide movement to lobby lawmakers and the US Navy.&quot;This is an example of what happens when we work together on one mission and from the same page and more importantly, that we recognize our voice,&quot; Fields said.Meanwhile, for Congresswoman Sarah Jacobs, adding the USS Trinidad to the US fleet &quot;sends a powerful and necessary message memorializing both his story and the tens of thousands of Filipinos who have faithfully and loyally served in the US Navy since 1901.&quot;Jacobs added, &quot;frankly, it shouldn’t have taken this long.&quot;The Trinidad family, who joined the community at Liberty Station’s New American Museum, sees this as a win not just for themselves but for many Asian American service members.&quot;This is something that’s been long overdue,&quot; Trinidad&#x27;s grandson Pope Trinidad asserted. &quot;I was looking around Liberty station; you see names for buildings. There’s a name for a sailor on this street, there’s names for halls but nowhere in any station in the country is there a building or ship named for my grandfather. As a matter of fact there’s very few that are named after any Asian, Pacific Islander. That’s something I’m hoping starting now that we correct.&quot;While the San Diego region has been home to a handful of freeways, monuments, and streets honoring Filipinos, a Navy ship takes on an extra special meaning as a large portion of the area’s Filipino community traces their roots to the US Navy.&quot;This is one of the commitments, dedications of all Filipino fighting soldiers: to support the technology and the politics of the United States. About time that we had this,&quot; Ret. US Navy Master chief Cesar Adan, President of the Filipino American Retirees of Southern California, said.The USS Telesforo Trinidad will be a brand new destroyer ship that is yet to be built. While the Trinidad family and the community would’ve been happy with any type of ship named after Trinidad, they’re more than delighted and even more excited to find out that the USS Telesforo Trinidad is going to be an Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer ship, considered in the Navy as top of the line.The completion is expected to take a few more years. In the meantime, the community will hold another public celebration later this summer.

San Diego’s Filipino community celebrated the US Navy’s move to approve the naming of a new destroyer ship after a Fil-Am sailor.