An escape from the searing, rust-laden hotbed that was their country. Such were the thoughts embedded in the minds of Filipinos who yearned to follow the tens of thousands of American servicemen who had boarded cruisers bound for "the States" after the surrender of Japan. 1955. A young Filipino who idolized Americans - from the GIs who recaptured his hometown, to Frank Sinatra and his role in the film "Anchors Aweigh" - yearned to travel abroad. To some, happiness lay far away from this island country, across an endless ocean of dreams and perceptions and amid the cherry red Mustangs, movie debuts, and white picket fences of America. Like thousands of other young Filipinos of the time, Ray scrambled from Sangley Point on the island of Luzon to enlist in the U.S. Coast Guard. Seven and a half years later, he found himself in an enviable position, a place of privilege where many of the thousands of other Filipino "swabbees" wished to be, as a steward to the Group Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Base in New York City.