While America commemorates service members past and present on Veterans Day, Filipinos gathered at the Valor Monument in Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown to honor Filipino World War Two veterans.

"It’s a time for us to contemplate, to look back on our heritage and our history," said Jaime Geaga of the Friends of Echo Park Library. "It really up how a lot of us came to the U.S. A lot of us came to the U.S. because our grandparents or our fathers were veterans."

While there are only a handful of Filipino veterans left, and those few survivors are nearing a hundred years in age, veterans' advocate groups like Justice for Filipino American Veterans or JFAV are regrouping to lead efforts on pushing for the passage of several bills.

"The Equity Bill is still in Congress but nobody is pushing it after Jackie Speier retired," said Art Garcia of JFAV. "Many bills have been filed by Senator Mazie Hirono in the Senate, and also by other congressmen. So we are still fighting for equity."

Their fight is not just for the veterans, but for their survivors as well.

"What people don’t remember are the widows, survivors. There are 68,000 widows. There are also sons and daughters," said Garcia. "I’m the nephew of a veteran, two of my uncles. One died in the (Bataan) Death March. The other lived but died in 1967 on the 25th anniversary of Bataan Day."

Joey Anne Pangilinan of JFAV Southern California, meanwhile, lamented that families were never reunified due to the Rescission Act.

"That's another conversation because the Rescission Act impacted generations, not just veterans," she said.

It’s been nearly 80 years since the Rescission Act stripped away Filipino World War II veterans’ full veteran benefits, including their lifetime monthly pension. In recent years, however, veterans and their advocates have managed a few victories in Congress, including lump-sum payments and the Congressional Medal of Honor.

"It was nice to have his service recognized, but unfortunately, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done," said Fred Docdocil, a grandson of a veteran. 

"I wanted my dad to bring this today because this is part of his story, that for so long, despite the fact he was on the Missouri list, the Filipinos that were promised when they were integrated in the Armed Forces of the Far East, it was denied for so long, that recognition."

Veterans and their advocates are hoping newly elected Filipino-American leaders like State Senator Chris Cabaldon, State Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza, and Los Angeles City Council member Ysabel Jurado can help lead their cause

JFAV also wants to preserve the stories of Filipino World War 2 veterans by working with some museums and memorials in San Francisco and Los Angeles.