Virgilio N. Cordero Jr. Explained

Virgilio Norberto Cordero Sr.
Birth Date:6 June 1893
Birth Place:San Juan, Puerto Rico
Death Place:Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Ceiba, Puerto Rico
Placeofburial:Puerto Rico National Cemetery in Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Allegiance: United States of America
Branch: United States Army
Serviceyears:1917-1953
Rank:
Brigadier General
Commands:Battalion Commander of the 31st Infantry Regiment
Battles:World War I, World War II and the Korean War
Awards:Silver Star Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart Medal

Brigadier General Virgilio Norberto Cordero Jr. (June 6, 1893 – June 9, 1980) was a Puerto Rican soldier who served in the United States Army. Cordero authored two books about his experiences as a prisoner of war, and his participation in the Bataan Death March of World War II.

Early years

Cordero was born in San Juan, the capital city of Puerto Rico when the island was still a Spanish colony. There he received his primary and secondary education. He moved to the United States and earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from Penn State College of Engineering in 1917. That year he also graduated from the Army ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) program of that educational institution.[1] He then entered the officers candidate school in Madison Barracks, New York and graduated with the rank of second lieutenant.[2]

Military career

Cordero enlisted in the United States Army after graduating from PSU. He served in World War I and by 1922, according to the Official Army register, he held the rank of captain of infantry.[1] [3] On December 8, 1941, when Japanese planes attacked the U.S. military installations in the Philippines, Cordero, who by then held the rank of colonel, was the Battalion Commander of the 31st Infantry Regiment.[1] The 31st Infantry covered the withdrawal of American and Philippine forces to the Bataan Peninsula and fought for four months, despite the fact that no help could come in from the outside after much of the United States Pacific Fleet was destroyed at Pearl Harbor and mid-ocean bases at Guam and Wake Island were lost.

Cordero was named Regimental Commander of the 52nd Infantry Regiment, 51st Infantry Division of the new Filipino Army, thus becoming the first Puerto Rican to command a Filipino Army regiment. He commanded 72nd Infantry Regiment (PA) on the last days of Battle of Bataan. The Bataan Defense Force surrendered on April 9, 1942, and Cordero and his men underwent torture and humiliation during the Bataan Death March and nearly four years of captivity. Cordero was one of nearly 1,600 members of the 31st Infantry who were taken as prisoners. Half of these men perished while prisoners of the Japanese forces. Cordero along with other senior US military officers were liberated in the Mukden POW Camp after the unconditional surrender of Japan in September 2, 1945.[4] [5] [6]

From July 1946 to November 1947, he served in the US military base in Caserta, Italy before returning to the United States. While in Italy, he was awarded a Silver Star Medal and the Legion of Merit for his actions in Bataan.[7]

In 2020 Virgilio N. Cordero was Posthumously inducted to the Puerto Rico Veterans Hall of Fame.[8]

Silver Star citation

Post-World War II

Cordero continued to serve in the military retiring in 1953 after 36 years of service.[1] Cordero wrote about his experiences as a prisoner of war and what he went through during the Bataan Death March. He authored My Experiences during the War with Japan, which was published in 1950. In 1957, he authored a revised Spanish version titled Bataan y la Marcha de la Muerte; Volume 7 of Colección Vida e Historia, published by: A. Aguado.[9]

On June 9, 1980, Cordero died of lung ailment in the U.S. Navy Hospital in the Roosevelt Roads base in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. He was buried with full military honors in Section G, Plot 3 in the Puerto Rico National Cemetery located in the city of Bayamón, Puerto Rico.[1] Cordero was survived by his wife, the former Gloria Haydon (1922-1981) of Needham, Massachusetts, four children and three grandchildren.[10]

Military decorations

Among the military decorations which Cordero earned were the following:

1st RowSilver Star Medal
with two bronze oak leaf clusters
2nd RowBronze Star MedalPurple HeartPrisoner of War Medal
3rd RowWorld War I Victory MedalAsiatic Pacific Campaign MedalWorld War II Victory Medal
4th RowPhilippine Liberation MedalNational Defense Service MedalKorean Service Medal
with a silver star device.

Tabs:

Further reading

See also

Notes and References

  1. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19800609&id=_UVPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FwMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5820,4011495 Toledo Blade - Jun 9, 1980
  2. https://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=BattleMemoryExt&ID=198022 Together We Served
  3. https://books.google.com/books?id=CAAtAAAAIAAJ&q=Virgilio+N.+Cordero----&pg=PA1458 Official Army register
  4. Web site: 31st Infantry Regiment Association . 2013-05-03 . 2013-07-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130724070525/http://www.31stinfantry.org/index.htm . dead .
  5. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/55717/Bataan-Death-March Bataan Death March
  6. Web site: Tarlac-Point.org . www.west-point.org . 9 March 2023.
  7. Book: Puerto Rico. Office of Historian . Tesauro de datos historicos: indice compendioso de la literatura histórica de Puerto Rico, incluyendo algunos datos inéditos, periodísticos y cartográficos . Impr. del Gobierno de Puerto Rico. v. 2 . 1949 . es . 4 January 2020 . 244–245.
  8. https://www.opv.pr.gov/salon-de-la-fama/salon-de-la-fama
  9. Book: Cordero, Virgilio N. . Bataán y la Marcha de la Muerte. A. Aguado. 1957. 58027575. Colección Vida e historia. 7. Spanish.
  10. Web site: Philippine Defenders, The Quan; Page 13 . 2013-05-04 . 2015-10-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151010213010/http://philippine-defenders.lib.wv.us/QuanNews/quan1900s/quan1980s/august_1980_quan.pdf . dead .