Reflections on a 70 Year-old Family Photo

“Nice Family Photo”

My friend John Duresky is the co-author and primary historical researcher for Relentless Hope, the biography of a young artillery officer and West Point graduate who endured the horrors of Bataan, the Death March, and numerous prisoner of war camps and hell ships during World War II. John reached out to engage me on my grandfather, a Filipino national and fellow West Point grad who endured some of those same horrors.

John’s detailed research for his book is remarkable. After we had corresponded for a bit he probed his various archives seeking documents that related to my family. He sent me a number of hits along with short descriptions of their contents. One simply said “1952 1-7 nice family photo.”

El Paso (TX) Herald Post, Monday January 7, 1952 page 1

“Nice family photo” indeed! It depicts our Filipino grandfather and his two youngest children. Our dad Nick was 13 years old when the newspaper photo was taken. I shared it with the extended family, and they too were floored, especially by the expressions of happiness on the faces of our relatives and the pride in that of our grandfather. My brother Joe asked, “Wait a minute, if the Philippines was a U.S. territory, why did they need to be naturalized? Shouldn’t they already have been citizens?” I have to admit, the question didn’t occur to me.

Are People Born in U.S. Territories American Citizens?

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

“The Citizenship Clause'” Section 1, 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Are people born in U.S. territories (such as Guam and Puerto Rico) U.S. citizens? The citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment specifically mentions “State,” which has caused the issue to bounce around the courts for more than 150 years. Simply put, the judicial consensus is those born in a U.S. territory are American citizens, though they don’t enjoy all the constitutional protections of their fellow Americans in the 50 U.S. states.

The Philippines as U.S. Territory

The Philippine Islands had a long history of Spanish colonial rule when in 1898, following the Spanish-American War, the country became a United States protectorate, effectively making Filipinos born then and thereafter U.S. citizens, for the most part free to travel/move to mainland America. Our grandfather Santiago Garcia Guevara (b. 1899) was awarded an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, received an American army commission, and returned to the Philippines to serve in the U.S. Army’s Philippine Scouts. He married Carmen Fernandez (b. 1907) and in 1931 welcomed their son Bobby. All three could credibly claim U.S. citizenship. When their children Carmen (aka “Carmencita” or “Minnie,” b. 1935) and Nick (b. 1938, our father) were born, however, the U.S. had passed the 1934 Philippine Independence Act, muddying citizenship and severely restricting immigration. In 1946, the Philippines was granted full independence.

Filipino Veterans Post-war Citizenship

Tens of thousands of Filipinos fought with the American army on Bataan in 1942 and then as guerrillas throughout Japanese occupation of the islands. All were initially offered streamlined U.S. citizenship, but the number of applications led to delays and many broken promises. Though a Filipino, Santiago was an American Army officer, a fact which, added to having been born as a de facto citizen, surely put him at the head of the line to be officially declared so.

Guevara Family Citizenship

His paperwork has been lost, but Santiago was apparently already a U.S. citizen when the family immigrated in 1949. “He waltzed off the ship,” the story goes, while his wife and three children were stuck for hours in customs. I am pretty sure I have seen the elder Carmen’s naturalization paperwork among our family documents, but am for now unable to find it. Regardless, hers and Bobby’s preceded that of her two youngest as the 1952 newspaper article states, “Now the family, natives of the Philippine Islands, are all Americans.”

“Boy, this is a Great Day!”

“Sixty-one persons became citizens of the United States at naturalization proceedings in Federal District Court today,” the article under the “nice family photo” read. “Two happiest were two youngest, Carmen Guevara, 17, and her brother Nick, 13. They are children of Lieut. Col. Santiago Guervara [sic] of Ft. Bliss. ‘Boy, this is a great day,’ said Nick. He was especially happy because he wants to attend West Point, his father’s alma mater. Carmen, a freshman at Texas Western College, is studying biological sciences. She has her eye on medical school. An older brother, Bob, is a pre-medical student at TWC. …The woodwind group of the Fort Bliss 42nd Band… played patriotic airs. When the band broke into the strains of ‘Home on the Range,’ the newest Americans, who evidently knew the piece, sang the words lustily.”

Nick did earn an appointment to West Point in 1958, though not a commission. He served two years in the U.S. Army, attended Georgetown University, and raised a large family in Washington D.C. He died in 2002. Bobby was a long-time Northern California M.D. and U.S. Army reservist. He also died in 2002. Young Carmen did not attend medical school. She graduated from the University of Maryland and earned postgraduate degrees, serving as a college administrator while simultaneously raising a family of five girls in Washington D.C. She died in 2018.