Benjamin Mallo Photo Collection - Under the Sun: Camp Roxas Film Documentary
Benjamin Corneja Mallo

Our father, Benjamin Corneja Mallo, born in 1908, was the youngest of three brothers who immigrated from the Philippines from Janiuay, Iloilo.

Uncle Tamse (Jose) and Uncle Carlos worked as Filipino seasonal workers in California, following the harvest of fruits and vegetables. When they had enough money, they sent for my father, Benjamin, who also worked in the fields.

Uncle Tamse was the family musician who played the clarinet, saxophone and mandolin. During the Prohibition Era, when alcohol was banned, he played the saxophone in underground "speak-easy" bars.

Uncle Tamse and Uncle Carlos sent my father, Benjamin to automotive mechanic school to learn a trade to support all of them. During the Great Depression in 1929, they could not afford the tuition and my father never finished his training. When the U.S. joined World War II in 1941, my father joined the U.S. Army, where he served as a sharpshooter in war action in the Philippines and Papua-New Guinea.

He returned to the San Francisco Bay Area in California after World War II, where he was recruited in San Francisco as a U.S. Civil Service heavy equipment automotive mechanic for the U.S. Navy Public Works on Guam, where he retired in 1972.

In 1948, he lived in the Camp Asan barracks, now the present site of the War in the Pacific National Park. He returned home to Lambunao, Iloilo, to marry my mother, the former Salvacion L. Lacuesta, on Dec. 30, 1952.

Our first home was a rental owned by the late Mag & John Zahnen in Yigo. Our parents bought land in Socio, Tamuning, from the Dungca family and transferred a surplus Quonset hut to the property. The Quonset hut was converted through the years to a wood frame duplex and a tin-roofed concrete structure which still stands today.

He died in Guam in 1990 and my mother followed him in 2006.

--- Steven & JoAnn Mallo, children

© 2009 All Rights Reserved | Camp Roxas Film Project, Tamuning, Guam
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From the private collection of Steven R. Mallo (used with permission)
Dad outside a field worker barracks (1920s). "Laughing under the fine and mild California sunshine" is in Dad's handwriting.Mallo brothers posed for a formal studio portrait in California in the 1920s. From left to right, Uncle Tamse, Dad, Uncle Carlos and their friend Salvador Horlador. Uncle Tamse's band pose for a picture in the 1940s, front of the Daguhoy Hall, which is still standing today in Stockton, Calif. Uncle Tamse is seated with a clarinet in the front row, second to the right of the majorette in center. Uncle Lucas Casipe is on his right. Group photo of field workers, Santa Maria, Calif.Asparagus cutting agreement (two pages) with Atkins Kroll Company, Terminous, San Joaquin Valley, Calif. (1955); Uncle Tamse was the lead worker who weighed each worker's daily harvest.Asparagus cutting agreement (two pages) with Atkins Kroll Company, Terminous, San Joaquin Valley, Calif. (1955); Uncle Tamse was the lead worker who weighed each worker's daily harvest.California Passenger List for Benjamin Mallo, 20 Arrival Date: 25 Jul 1928 Birth Date: abt 1908 Birthplace: Janiuay, Iloilo Ship: President Taft Port of Arrival: San Francisco, Calif. Port of Departure: Manila, Philippines (Seattle Passenger & Crew Lists) Name: Carlos Mallo, 18, & Salvador Mejora Mallo, 19, Terminous Landing, Stockton, Calif. Birth Years: 1910 & 1909 Gender: Males Ship Name: President Madison Arrival Date: 15 Jul 1929 Port of Arrival: Seattle, Wash. Port of Departure: Manila, Philippines (California Marriage Index) Name: Carlos C Mallo, 46 Est. Birth: abt 1915 Spouse Name: Amanda Ventura, 52 Est. Spouse Birth: abt 1909 Date: 3 Jun 1961 Location: Los Angeles (California Passenger and Crew Lists) Name: Lucas Casipe Arrival Date: 25 Jul 1928 Age: 22 Birth Date: abt 1906 Birthplace: Janiuay Iloilo Gender: Male Ship Name: President Taft Port of Arrival: San Francisco, California Port of Departure: Manila, Philippines
Read HERE the family's tribute to the life of
Benjamin C. Mallo.
Name: Benjamin C. Mallo
SSN: 552-16-5956 
Last Residence: 96911  Tamuning, Guam, United States of America
Born: 28 Jan 1906
Died: Sep 1990
State (Year) SSN issued: California (Before 1951)

Source Citation: Number: 552-16-5956;Issue State: California;Issue Date: Before 1951.

Source Information:
Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2009. Original data: Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.
Name: Salvacion L. Mallo
SSN: 586-05-6957
Last Residence: 96931  Tamuning, Guam
Born: 20 Dec 1918
Died: 23 Feb 2006
State (Year) SSN issued:Guam, American Samoa, Philippine, or Northern Mariana Islands (1961)

Source Citation: Number: 586-05-6957;Issue State: Guam, American Samoa, Philippine, or Northern Mariana Islands;Issue Date: 1961.
Source Information:
Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2009. Original data: Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.