Our real heroes deserve a place in history.

California’s board of education approved the inclusion of Filipinos’ role in World War II in the Philippines in the revised history curriculum framework for the state’s schools.

"The green light from the State Board of Education (SBE) came two months after the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) unanimously approved the recommendations of the Bataan Legacy Historical Society (BLHS)," reports Jun Nucum on Inquirer.net.

The report noted: "Many years of hard work by the BLHS and support from the Filipino community had led to the passage in 2011 of AB 199 sponsored by then-legislators Fiona Ma and Leland Yee, which encouraged the inclusion of the role of the Filipinos during WWII in the history/social sciences curriculum for Grades 7-12."

BLHS executive director Cecilia Gaerlan explained, "They revise the curriculum every ten years or so, the last being in 2005, so we had to have this done this year or wait for another ten years before we can even present these recommendations again."

This important part of WWII history will be included in the Grade 11 U.S. history (Chapter 16) curriculum framework.

Among the historical events that will be included are the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth, the creation of the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) comprised of Americans and a majority of Filipinos, the Battles of Leyte Gulf, the destruction of Manila, and others.