‘An American dream:’ Navy warrant officer retires with 30 years of service that began in the last...

Growing up in the Philippines, Jules Amores loved to read about science and medicine, thinking he might become a doctor one day. But he also pined for life in America, which was fueled through copies of the U.S. Navy’s All Hands magazine that his uncle would bring home from his job at the American Embassy.

Amores would pour over photographs of ships and planes, daydreaming about life aboard an aircraft carrier. He never imagined he would one day enlist in the U.S. Navy himself and that his 1992 enlistment ceremony would be featured in that magazine.
“Along the years, I kind of wished I could be there. Life in the Philippines is hard,” he said. “Going to the U.S. has always been my dream.”
Amores, then 21 years old, earned his shot through a competitive recruitment program that enlisted Filipino men into the U.S. Navy. He took the oath on March 13, 1992, as part of the last group to do so. All Hands magazine ran a short article about the program, which began in 1947 and enlisted more than 35,000 Filipino men into the Navy, with the headline, “The last recruits.”