The US Merchant Marine Academy and Students from the Philippines: Memory and Historical Narrative in the Postwar Era

The United States government sought to rehabilitate the devastated Philippines through a scholarship for Filipino youths at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Many Filipinos fought against the Japanese bravely and endured much hardship during the war on the side of the United States, including a significant portion of the cadets sent to the academy. Their stories were captured in a cadet corps magazine called Polaris , in which they described their experiences of war in gruesome detail, but in a way clearly influenced by the liberation narratives of the Japanese imperialists.