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Reynaldo Arce Mendoza (24 March 1917 - 4 June 2001) was a Philippine Army brigadier general. He was a member of the class of 1940, the author of the Alma Mater song "PMA, Oh Hail to Thee," and former Superintendent of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA). He was also the former Chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) and President of the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP). During his military service, Mendoza had received several awards and decorations including three Distinguished Service Stars and Presidential Unit Citations from the Philippines, the United States, and the South Korea. He was also recipient of the Ulchi Distinguished Military Service Medal and the Korean War Hero Medal for his command of the 2nd Battalion Combat Team (BCT) of the Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea (PEFTOK).
The words of the anthem profess the persistent safeguard of personal honor as the absolute duty of each cadet. All cadets and cavaliers of the academy have to memorize the lyrics and sing the song correctly.
Throughout the campaign to liberate the country from Imperial Japanese forces from 1944 to 1945, Mendoza served in the United States Army Forces in the Philippines – Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL) Guerilla Unit as a staff officer.
The Philippines Expeditionary Forces to Korea served in the Korean War. From 1950 to 1955, five Battalion Combat Teams (BCT) served in Korea. Reynaldo Mendoza led the 2nd BCT. This battalion was one of the most combat-experienced in the anti-Huk campaign. It arrived in Korea in April 1954 and trained in new weapons and combat techniques. It extended peacekeeping and reconstruction work while providing humanitarian aid to South Koreans. Mendoza succeeded commander Colonel Antonio de Veyra.
In 1964, he became the 4th President of the National Defense College of the Philippines. In 1966, he was appointed as the new Superintendent of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA). In this same year, on September 11, he was promoted by President Ferdinand Marcos from Colonel to Brigadier General.
From 1972 to 1981, the Philippines was under martial law of Ferdinand Marcos. Mendoza was already retired but had not lost his influence. When Mendoza's nephew was arrested and abused by the Marcos' military forces, he recounted that the torture stopped after the Constabulary Security Unit's head, who used to serve under Mendoza, found out about their kinship. In 1985, Marcos signed the Administrative Order 501 to create a Board of Generals and Colonels that will study the reorganization of the AFP. The Board included Fidel Ramos and Fabian Ver, among others, and retired generals like Mendoza and Ernesto Mata. They acted as an advisory body to the President on policy matters affecting the organization and management of military resources.
When Corazon Aquino came to power in 1986, several coup attempts were plotted against her during the first four years of her presidency. Mendoza and other members of his class opposed the coups and refused to participate in them despite being asked to.Mendoza, Golden Book, 125, qtd. in Alfred McCoy, Closer than Brothers : Manhood at the Philippine Military Academy (Yale University Press, 1999), 340, note 3.Interview with Reynaldo Mendoza, in Closer than Brothers : Manhood at the Philippine Military Academy (Yale University Press, 1999), 108, note 19.
At a special ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the Korean War in 2010, Mendoza was one of the 14 Filipinos honored with the Korean War Hero Medal, presented by the Republic of Korea for their contributions during the Korean War. Other notable awardees include former president Fidel Ramos, the late Senator Ninoy Aquino Jr., and Captain Conrado Yap.
The PEFTOK Korean War Memorial Hall, where names of all the Filipinos who served in Korea from 1950 to 1955 are displayed on floor panels, was inaugurated on March 29, 2012.
1936 – 1940 Philippine Military Academy, Baguio, Philippines
1947 – 1948 Armored Force School (now the United States Army Armor School), Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA
1949 – 1950 University of Santo Tomas, Philippines
1950 – 1951 University of the Philippines
1958 Command & General Staff College, Ft Leavenworth, Kansas, USA 1958
1961 Industrial College of the Armed Forces (now Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy), D.C., USA
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