Salvador Yambao
Photo by Joshua Albeza Branstetter for Mana, with archival images courtesy of the Yambao family.
At 18 years old, our grandpa Salvador Yambao joined the U.S. Military because he saw an opportunity for a bright future. In 1944, he served in the Philippine Scouts as a medic during World War II and was sent to Okinawa and Korea.
As a young adult, our grandpa was always intrigued by history, specifically Philippine and U.S. history. His goal was to pursue a degree in education to teach history to high school students. He attended Pampanga College, Inc. hoping to get his teaching certificate.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances, he had to pivot from pursuing his degree and decided to focus on building a strong future for his wife, Emerenciana, and their children. Although his career path changed, he was still heavily involved in his children’s education and extracurricular activities. In 1969, he became the PTA president for San Vicente Ferrer Elementary School to help facilitate the program.
In the 1980s, a bill was passed allowing all individuals who served in the Philippine Scouts to migrate to the United States. Our grandpa saw this as an opportunity to build a better life, and he migrated to San Francisco, California. He then discovered more job opportunities in the cannery business through family friends and moved to Kodiak, Alaska. While working in a cannery was a great stepping stone for him, he wanted to build a stable lifestyle to support his family and decided to move to Anchorage where all his children eventually migrated years later.
As he was getting established in Anchorage, he became highly involved in the Macabebe Pampanga Association Anchorage. The group brought together kababayans to bring a sense of community as a home away from home. He made it a priority to help gather donations for the Pampanga Association to establish and continue the legacy among the current and future families from Pampanga who relocated to the United States. He was known as an articulate speaker and was favored among the community because of his generosity, care and camaraderie for the Filipino community.
He always extended a helping hand, getting involved in the community. He participated in coordinating hometown fiestas and also became a favored basketball coach in San Vicente, Pampanga. Our grandpa’s love for basketball never strayed away from his homeland. The community convinced him to be involved in the Filipino Basketball League in Anchorage because of his strategic coaching style, along with the many wins he coached when he was back home. His love for basketball was passed down to his children and grandchildren Tristan and Jan Michael Leal who played in the Filipino Basketball League as they got older.
In 2018 when our grandpa was 92 years old, Sen. Lisa Murkowski presented him the Congressional Gold Medal at the Asian Alaska Cultural Center for his service in the Philippine Scouts during World War II. The gold medals honored and gave thanks to the Philippine Scouts who served in the U.S. Military.
Salvador Yambao is loved and survived by his five children, 13 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren who all are thankful for the sacrifice, hard work and opportunities he provided to us to live a better future for ourselves and our future families. We only wish to continue his and our grandma’s legacy to establish, live and pass on our roots from humble beginnings to our generation and onto the next one to come.