Customer Reviews

East LA Marine: The Guy Gabaldon Story

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Great Documentary on a WWII Marine Hero named Guy Gabaldon. This man saved the lives of many Japanese and Americans by getting thousands of the enemy to surrender. He received the "Navy Cross" which in my opinion he should have received the "Medal of Honor" for his brave actions.

The documentary was great but there is more to tell. After WW2, Guy got married and moved to Mexico where he was active in a anti-communist campaign sponsored by the Mexican government called DCAA. He got his private pilot's license and flew into variuos rural areas of Mexico where communist groups were most active in trying to organizie a Cuban style revolution. From there, he moved back to the US and ran for Congress as a Republican in the Eastside of Los Angeles. I was the Town Chairman of the Republican Party for Pico Rivera at the time and it was my job to keep his car in repair and walk precints with him. Unfortunately for all of us, he didn't win. In the late 60s, while I was in law school, I saw his name in a newspaper and wrote to him. He was living in Ensenada, Mexico at the time and was piloting a fishing boat. I lost track of him again until I found that he was appearing at an American Legion Hall in Boyle Heights CA and went to see him. He had moved to Saipan, remarried, aged considerably, but was still flying.

The thing that struck me the most about the man was that he was sincere in everything he did and was not afraid to speak his mind. They just don't make them like Guy anymore.

Study the WAR on Saipan,and the name Guy Gabaldon will keep popping up. He was the feisty little Marine that grew up in ELA with Japanese friends. As a result of being fluent in Japanese, he was able to talk hundreds of Japanese deeply entrenched in caves into surrendering (estimates vary from 800-1100), not only saving their lives, and the American soldiers that would have to fight them, but also countless local islanders who were caught in the middle of the raging battles. He was awarded the Navy Cross but rightfully should have received the Medal of Honor. He was finally evacuated to Hawaii after being wounded. He recently died but his memory of service lives on. The movie does an excellent job of portraying his life with interviews and actual footage of the Saipan battles of World War II.