USS Telesforo Trinidad campaign — USSTTC.org
Fireman Second Class Telesforo Trinidad is the first and only Filipino American in the U.S. Navy to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (CMOH). He received this highest military medal for extraordinary heroism when boilers exploded on board the USS San Diego (ACR-6) on January 21, 1915 and he brought two crew members to safety despite receiving burns himself, thus embodying the naval ethos that prioritizes “ship and shipmate before self.”
In 2021, Manuel L. Quezon Post 603 was asked by the USS Telesforo Trinidad campaign to assist in naming the next guided missile destroyer as “USS Telesforo Trinidad” in honor of this World War I and World War II Veteran and CMOH recipient.
Post 603 then submitted a resolution and are grateful to District 5, Area One, Department of California, and finally the National Executive Committee for adopting the resolution.
National Commander Paul Dillard also featured Trinidad in the national magazine’s March 2022 issue and he wrote the Secretary of the Navy, Carlos Del Toro, to name a ship after Trinidad.
For more information on this USS Telesforo Trinidad campaign, please visit www.USSTTC.org
Author: Nestor Aliga
Nestor Aliga was born in the Philippines and migrated to Vallejo, CA in 1967. He was in the US Marine Corps from 1974 to 1976 then in the US Army from 1976 to 2008. He is a life-member of the Big-Three, www.CALEGION.org, www.VFWCA.org, and www.DAVCAL.org.