After a decades-long logistical effort, a longtime Mill Valley resident whose father was a Filipino World War II hero accepted a prestigious medal to honor her dad’s heroic service April 30 at the Marin County Civic Center.
Simon Nasalga Sr., who died in 1981, was a decorated Filipino war veteran who served on a Filipino passenger ship that was conscripted into the war effort against the Japanese. The vessel was damaged by Japanese planes in February 1942 off the northern coast of Australia and Nasalga suffered a shrapnel injury in the back. He was rescued and recovered from his injury in Australia. Later he helped liberate the Philippines as an official member of the American armed forces.
Marin Veterans Service Officer Sean Stephens helped Ofelia Fischman, a longtime resident of Mill Valley who recently moved to Santa Rosa, honor her father’s sacrifices by filing to receive the Mariner’s Medal, the Merchant Marine’s equivalent of a Purple Heart medal. On April 30 at the Marin County Veterans Memorials in San Rafael, Fischman and her mother, Estelita Nasalga of Santa Rosa, accepted the medal from U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Karl Schultz, Commander of the 11th District. Also on hand was Ofelia’s daughter, Sasha Fischman.
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Between 1943 and 1956, more than 6,000 Mariner’s Medals were awarded to merchant mariners who were wounded or suffered injury as result from actions by enemies of United States. But many Filipino veterans were denied deserved benefits and recognition by the U.S. government. Nasalga died at age 60, long after he emigrated and became a U.S. citizen and long before Fischman could complete paperwork for the Mariner’s Medal.
In rare instances, the medal is presented posthumously for World War II veterans by the Department of Transportation’s Marine Administration in formal ceremonies. Admiral Schultz, a 31-year Coast Guard officer based in Alameda, commands about 2,500 Coast Guard personnel based from the California-Oregon border down to the coast of Peru.
