OC2c Filomeno Santos

Filomeno Santos was born Nov. 25, 1906 in the city of Iloilo on the Island of Panay in the southwestern Philippines. His mother was Ginoveva Maranion (or Maranon). His father is not identified in publicly available records.

Mr. Santos enlisted in the Navy in March 1927, earning $21 a month as an entry-level mess attendant. The Messman Branch was the only one open to African-American, Filipino, and Guamanian men in the Navy, which had been segregated since the administration of President Woodrow Wilson. They were prohibited from advancing to jobs with higher skill and pay.

Mr. Santos re-enlisted in 1933, earning $39.60 a month as a mess attendant second class. He re-enlisted again in 1937, and by then was a messman first class, paid $62.10 a month. That fall he married Dorothy Hudson in St. George, Utah, while he was on leave from the U.S.S. Idaho.

His last enlistment was in January 1941. He was an officer’s cook and was paid $72 a month.

Soon after, he declared his intent to become a citizen. He was naturalized in August 1941, five months after his transfer to the U.S.S. Arizona.

Mr. Santos was an officer’s cook and petty officer second class on the Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

In a sad postscript, his mother did not know he was dead until after the war. Japan invaded the islands within hours of the attack on Pearl Harbor and did not fully surrender until September 1945. In May 1946, in response to a letter from his mother, the government told her he had been killed.

Sources: Honolulu Star-Bulletin; The Honolulu Advertiser; Declaration of Intention to become a citizen; Navy enlistment records and muster rolls; Western States Marriage Record Index. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.