Date of Birth:
1920Date of Death:
2012SECTORS:
BIO:
Pacita Todtod Bobadilla was a beauty queen, singer, and advocate for the Filipino community. She was born in the Philippines on May 14th, 1920, and later immigrated to the United States with her family. She was crowned Miss Philippines at age 21 at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco. At the start of World War II, she spearheaded a national effort to allow Filipinos to serve in the US Armed Forces, because they were not permitted to enlist at the time. On January 2nd 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a law which allowed Filipinos to volunteer to enlist. By 1943, almost half of the male Filipino population had enlisted.
During the war she sang and entertained for the USO, and is remembered for her singing role in the 1945 war movie “They Were Expendable” starring John Wayne. Her work as a performer and organizer caught the attention of Hollywood, and she appeared in several movies to boost morale. However, her mother forced her to give up her aspirations of becoming an entertainer, and she married and settled down in Los Gatos, where she raised three children. Despite this, she was socially active in the area and was involved with the San Jose Symphony and Valle Monte League. She was recognized again for her contributions during World War II in Noel Izon’s 2002 PBS documentary “Untold Triumph.”
Womanhood is a public art and digital media project that promotes the historical contributions of women to Santa Clara County. https://womanhoodproject.org/
Womanhood is supported by the County of Santa Clara Office of Women’s Policy.

Augmented Reality Coming Soon!
Project Artist & Trigger Image Source: “Dear Pacing” by Arlene Biala, Jayann Bella, Frances Mendoza
Note: This augmented reality project has sound
Profile Image Source: imbd