Another Fil-Am soldier killed in Baghdad

Another Filipino-American soldier was killed in Iraq last Monday when a roadside bomb exploded while he was on a patrol.

The Star Bulletin in Hawaii reported that Army Staff Sgt. Metodio A. Bandonill, 29, was killed when the bomb detonated near his armored vehicle in Baghdad.

It was Bandonill’s second tour in Iraq, the one his mother Virginia asked him not to take.

The newspaper report said Bandonill was a member of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) assigned to Troop B, 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team.

He joined the Army in May 1997 and arrived at Fort Campbell in October 2004. Before that, he spent two years training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He also traveled to South Korea, Louisiana and Colorado.

Bandonill, a highly decorated soldier from Kalihi, is the second of five children of Virginia and Virgilio Bandonill and was born and raised on a farm in Sison, Pangasinan.

He attended the Northern Luzon Adventist College Academy and graduated as salutatorian of his high school class before his family decided to move to Hawaii to seek a better life.

He and his mother joined his father in Hawaii in December 1995. Bandonill’s four other siblings also followed them there.

His mother told The Honolulu Advertiser in an interview that her son saw the US army as an opportunity to better himself in a profession he could be proud of while serving his adopted country.

Bandonill received many awards during his military career, including the Army Commendation Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

US military officials first informed Bandonill’s wife, Charmaine, about his death at her home in Country Tipperary, Ireland.

Metodio and Charmaine, a hotel supervisor in Ireland, married in a civil ceremony in the Philippines on Jan. 14. He returned to Iraq the next day. The couple had planned to have a wedding reception in Hawaii after he completed his tour of duty in September.

Charmaine also said they wanted to travel before settling down in Colorado and starting a family.

The report said the couple met through an Internet Web site in 2003. They met in person in June 2004 at Shannon airport in Ireland.

Bandonill is also survived by his sister Maria and brothers, Dionisio, Joseph and Domingo.

Memorial services will be held for Bandonill in Iraq and during a monthly Eagle Remembrance Ceremony at Fort Campbell. Hawaii services are pending.