copied by Maria Elizabeth Del Valle Embry

source: Salem Community Church

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064760288441

A Memorial Day Remembrance

by Rev. Ann Tang

Monday, May 29, is Memorial Day, and this year marks the 50th anniversary of the departure of combat troops from Vietnam. It is also Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month. I thought it appropriate, then, to bring you the story of Philippines native Ambrosio Grandea, the only Methodist chaplain to die in the Vietnam War. He was mortally wounded on this day in 1967.

Ambrosio Grandea was born on Corregidor in the Philippines on August 22, 1932. He was the second of seven children born to Primitiva Salazar Grandea and Andres Gallenero Grandea Sr. He moved to the United States with his family in 1950.

Grandea received his bachelor's degree from Western Maryland College, where he was on the school boxing team. He earned a Master of Divinity degree at Boston University and was a clergy member of the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the Methodist Church. During his training, he served student pastorates in Cleveland, Ohio and in Charleston, New Hampshire.

He was married to Jacinta "Jaya" Martinez, who was born on March 9, 1934 to Angel Martinez and Maria Tamondong in Manila, Philippines. Mrs. Grandea was raised in the Philippines and moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 1956. She received her bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of the Philippines and completed post-graduate studies in Boston, where she met Ambrosio. She and Ambrosio were married in in 1957, and the couple resided in New Hampshire during his student pastorate there.

Ambrosio was endorsed as a chaplain by the Methodist Commission on Chaplains and entered the Army as a chaplain in 1960. During his career, he was stationed in Maryland, Germany, and Fort Campbell, Kentucky where he became airborne qualified.

Chaplain Grandea's final assignment was the 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry. The unit arrived in Vietnam in November 1966. For his selfless service in combat, he was awarded the Silver Star, one of the nation's highest awards for gallantry. His citation reads:

On 6 May 1967 Chaplain Grandea distinguished himself while accompanying Company A, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division on a search and destroy operation near Thanh Hoa. One platoon of the company had been receiving devastating and accurate automatic and small arms fire from enemy forces to the front and flanks which wounded several men. Chaplain Grandea was with the Command Group when the firing started. As he heard the cries of "medic," he left the Command Group, which was not receiving fire and crawled forward to the wounded soldiers. Paying no heed to the heavy volume of fire being directed at the platoon by enemy troops both on the ground and in the trees, Chaplain Grandea moved to each of the wounded and assisted the medics in the administration of first aid.

Less than three weeks later, on May 25, 1967, Chaplain Grandea was mortally wounded in a mortar attack. He was conducting services on a Thursday, because "every day is Sunday" for the visiting chaplain. Chaplain Grandea was treated in Vietnam, but he soon slipped into a coma as infection set in. He was evacuated to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, where he died on June 13, 1967.

Mrs. Grandea was working as a nurse in Baltimore when she learned of her husband's wounds. The Army's messages were encouraging at first, indicating that his wounds were not serious. With each passing day, however, the news became more grim. She attempted to fly to be with him in the Philippines at her own expense, but an Army officer met her at the airport in San Francisco with the news that her husband had died.

After her husband's death, Mrs. Grandea volunteered for the Army Nurse Corps on the condition that she be sent to Vietnam.On December 23, 1967, she was sworn in as an Army officer at Fort Meade in Maryland, on the same day that she received her husband's posthumous Silver Star and Purple Heart.

Ambrosio Grandea is buried in Section 2 Site E-186-1 in Arlington National Cemetery. His name appears on panel 21E/97 of the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

As a Retired Army Chaplain, I had many times have gone to Arlington National Cemetery, especially the Chaplain's Hill to have my silent prayer for the fallen. Please remember our troops and those who have fought to give us freedom and protection.