"Film asks why Latino Marine never won top honor"

"In WW II, he got many Japanese to surrender"

Adapted from The San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS, Sunday, May 4, 2008.

"MIAMI -- Armed but alone, Marine Pfc. Guy Gabaldon roamed Saipan's caves and pillboxes, persuading enemy soldiers and civilians to surrender during the hellish World War II battle on the island.

"Using the Japanese language he learned as a boy, he warned the Japanese they'd die if they stayed hidden and told them Marines weren't torturers as they had heard.

"The Marines, he said, would feed them and give them medical care.

"Many agreed, and Gabaldon, just 18 led them back to U.S. lines.

"By battle's end, Gabaldon had coaxed more than 1,000 Japanese out of the steamy caves..."