Michael Janairo

This is my Lolo, Maximiano Saqui Janairo, in a studio photo taken in Manila around 1930, when he was about 24 or 25 years old. On his lapel, you can see the castle emblem of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Note the shoulder patch — the gold carabao on a red field — the symbol of the Philippine Scouts.

Here’s a photo of my Lolo, Maximiano Saqui Janairo.

• 1930 graduate of U.S. Military Academy at West Point
• Commission in the Philippine Scouts
• Chief engineer with the Philippine Army in 1941
• Captured by the Japanese in April 1942
• Survived the Bataan Death March
• Prisoner of War in Camp O’Donnell
• Escaped while being transferred to a hospital for malaria and dysentery
• Joined the guerrilla units fighting the Japanese occupation
• Served in Korea during the Korean War
• Served with NATO in Paris
• Retired as a colonel, stationed at the engineer school at Fort Belvoir
• Awarded Legion of Merit “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States from 8 December 1941 to 9 April 1942”
• Buried at Arlington National Cemetery