SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Pedro F. Aquino, Jr., is to receive a Congressional Gold Medal this Saturday, March 21, 14 years after his death in 2012 at age 89.
His story is one that shows the value for veterans and their families in preserving copies of military records and for Christian leaders and their families saving theirs.
“According to my dad, his military records were among those that were burnt,” Feri Aquino told Baptist Press. She found a document that validated his statement on NationalArchives.gov: “On July 12, 1973, a catastrophic fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri, destroyed or damaged approximately 16 to 18 million U.S. military personnel files. The fire burned for 22 hours, with hotspots lasting for days ….”
U.S. Army Major General, Ret., Tony Taguba told Baptist Press this week that the files were “unrecoverable.”
Aquino’s military documentation from the Philippines states he was a First Lieutenant as part of the U.S. Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) during World War II.
More than 30 years after World War II, and for almost 40 years, Aquino served God and Filipinos as a Southern Baptist church planter and pastor in California, the Southern Gulf Coast and Oklahoma.
Aquino’s family is to receive his Congressional Gold Medal for his military service at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 21, at Sonlight (Southern Baptist) Church in San Diego.
“We honor Pastor Pedro Aquino now because gratitude has no expiration date,” said retired Navy Commander Don Biadog Jr., who is to present the award. “Our nation is finally giving him the recognition he earned with his life, his service and his sacrifice.”
The Congressional Gold Medal (CGM) has an illustrious history. It is the nation’s highest civilian honor given by Congress. First presented to George Washington in 1776 for his and his troops’ service during the American Revolution, a CGM has been since awarded to more than 150 recipients, including military figures and groups, organizations and individuals.
Each gold medal has been cast with images reflecting the reasons for the medal. The original is placed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Recipients are given replicas.
Aquino’s medal was awarded by Congress in 2015 to Filipinos and Americans who served in the U.S. military’s Philippines’ war endeavors during WWII.
The CGM is for the family as much as for the veteran, Biadog told Baptist Press.
“A CGM becomes a permanent, tangible inheritance. It anchors the family to a legacy larger than themselves,” the retired Naval Commander said. “First Lieutenant Aquino served under the U.S. flag, under MacArthur’s command, in a war that shaped the modern world. His service helped secure the freedoms Americans enjoy today. Honoring him is a reminder to the country that ‘Freedom is not free.’
“Also, spiritual and moral leadership deserves recognition,” Biadog continued. “Aquino was not only a soldier. He was a pastor, a shepherd of souls. His life blended faith, service, and sacrifice. The CGM affirms that courage and character matter. Service to God and country leaves a lasting imprint. And a life lived for others is worthy of national remembrance.”
Aquino told his family he became an attaché to Gen. Douglas MacArthur for about two years in Okinawa after the liberation of the Philippines.
“He didn’t speak about the war unless you asked him questions,” Feri Aquino said. “Maybe 40 years ago I asked him, ‘Why don’t you talk about the war?’ His answer was very simple and very profound. He said, ‘Because I don’t want you to hate the Japanese.’”
Her father told the family he had met and played chess with a Japanese man during his service in Okinawa, she added.
War years
In 1943, Aquino’s ROTC buddies pointed a gun to his head and kidnapped him because of the leadership skills they had seen in him during high school. They “convinced him” (the alternative was death, he was told) to join their guerrilla group, his family said Aquino had told them. That same year, according to a document signed by the Adjutant General of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, he was added to the roster as a “civilian guerrilla.”
He had nightmares after the war from his experiences, his family said, including hand-to-hand combat fighting Japanese soldiers in the Philippine jungle.
As did many of the “Greatest Generation,” Aquino used his hands to overcome his memories. He began making furniture, eventually met a Baptist pastor through it and a few days later at the pastor’s home gave his life to Jesus Christ. That was in 1964.
His mother had convinced him years earlier to use the G.I. Bill to get a college education. He graduated in 1949 with a degree in architecture, though he continued his business in woodworking.
In 1971 he went to Western Australia Theological Seminary and graduated in October 1975. Two months later, after years of service as a pastor in the Philippines and in Australia, Aquino and his wife Victoria visited two of their grown children who had immigrated to California.
Plan A was to return to the Philippines after a month-long visit and return to a former pastorate.
Church planting
But Aquino in early 1976 met Ed Peol, who suggested Aquino take over in San Diego the Filipino Bible study Peol (pastoring First Filipino Southern Baptist Church in Los Angeles) had started.
About eight years later, after First Filipino Southern Baptist Church in San Diego became self-supporting, the Home (Now North American) Mission Board appointed Aquino to start work on the Southern Gulf Coast.
The Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives in Nashville has Aquino’s monthly reports from San Diego as well as his reports from Metairie, (Metro New Orleans) La., in 1984-86; Gulfport, Miss., 1985-87; Pensacola, Fla., 1986-87; and Del City, Okla., starting in 1987.
Those reports took some digging, SBHLA Researcher James Brimm told Baptist Press. Aquino used “Jr.” as part of his name in California, but not when he served on the Southern Gulf Coast.
Aquino was in his 70s when he returned to San Diego in 1995, but he didn’t retire. He served as an interim pastor for a time, then started Rhema Church in his home. About five years after Aquino’s death in 2012, that house church disbanded.
The Aquino family anticipates about 100 people – family, friends and other veterans – will be present for Aquino’s Congressional Gold Medal ceremony.
“My dad really loved being a pastor,” Feri Aquino said. “He and my mom were just humble servants of the Lord. He would consider this a great honor, but I know he would give God the glory.
“I want people to know how blessed we are,” Feri Aquino continued. “We have our freedom because of brave soldiers like my dad. If it wasn’t for them, people in the Philippines would be speaking Japanese today.”
Karen L. Willoughby is a national correspondent for Baptist Press.
Related posts:
SBC DIGEST: Litton to address UM graduation; Ohio Baptists to sell Seneca Lake facility 
North Carolina pastor arrested on sexual exploitation charges 
4 entity heads address messenger questions 
WEEK OF PRAYER: Prayers back home boost new Japan church 
Focus on gospel vital in reaching the next generation 
Local associations key to Southern Baptist credentialing, cooperation 
More than 13,000 registered for Send Conference 
YEAR IN REVIEW: Top 12 most-read stories in 2024
