Should WWII Marine get Medal of Honor?

A push for the Medal of Honor
In June 1957, he was featured on the TV show "This is Your Life." Two Japanese friends also appeared.

In 1960, "Hell to Eternity" was released, starring Jeffrey Hunter, who clearly was not Hispanic and at 6 feet tall looked nothing like 5-foot, 4-inch Gabaldon.

"That part of him is completely obliterated ... people who are familiar with this issue are really appalled by that," said Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, a University of Texas journalism professor who interviewed Gabaldon and hundreds of other men and women of the World War II generation.

However, the film started a push for the Medal of Honor and Schwabe officially recommended him for the honor. In December 1960, the Pentagon upgraded Gabaldon's Silver Star to a Navy Cross, but the Medal of Honor never came.

'Marine first, and then Guy'
Gabaldon, who eventually settled in Florida, suffered a stroke in the late 1990s but never mellowed or abandoned his love for fishing and other adventures, his wife said. He died in September 2006 at age 80.

Gabaldon's wife said he talked about racism he experienced as a serviceman. But Gabaldon never lost his love for the Marines: "He was a Marine first, and then Guy," Ohana Gabaldon said.

However, he was hurt that he never learned why he hadn't gotten the Medal of Honor, leading him and others to wonder whether his ethnicity played a part, his wife said.

"Nobody came up with the truth," Ohana Gabaldon said. "I guess what Guy wanted to hear from the Marine Corps is that `We goofed.' He told me he wasn't going to see the Medal of Honor in his lifetime."

The documentary compares Gabaldon's exploits to others who did win the Medal of Honor, such as the Army's Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in World War II.

In the film, narrator Freddie Prinze Jr. asks: "What caused this inequity? Was it because Guy Gabaldon was of Hispanic heritage? Was it because he had a big mouth and wasn't afraid to say what he felt?"

University of the South professor Harold J. Goldberg said in his book "D-Day in the Pacific: The Battle of Saipan" that some Marines estimated that Gabaldon captured only about half of the number he claimed.

Marine Sgt. David Dowdakin said in the book that while Gabaldon had advocates, "the rest of us think he is an importuning glory seeker who is playing the race card. But, then, the two traits often go together: bravery and glory seeking."

Capt. Amy Malugani, a Marines spokeswoman, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that the Marines are precluded from discussing whether any individual has been recommended for a medal.

'Opportunity to right a wrong'
But Malugani also said the Secretary of the Navy is reviewing of the service records of each Jewish and Hispanic-American veteran who won the Navy Cross for actions during World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars, and Operation Desert Storm, to determine if any should be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Gabaldon's widow said politics could be involved in the decision.

"We're becoming not so much a minority anymore," said Ohana Gabaldon, who is of Japanese and Mexican descent. "Maybe this is the time that the Latino vote counts, what Washington cares about so much.

"They can take the opportunity to right a wrong and be aware of what Latinos have done for this country."

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