It was only in the past few months that Tanya Mariano Kearns of Waianae discovered her grandfather was a Filipino World War II veteran.

When her parents divorced when she was a baby, she and her mother moved from Washington state to North Carolina. During her childhood she had no contact with her father, Domingo Codog Mariano.

At her high school graduation, Kearns met her father for the first time after her mother invited him to attend.

A strong desire to learn more about her genealogy led her to the AncestryDNA website in August.

“I wanted to find out more about my roots,” she said.

Kearns, 43, submitted her DNA test and asked her father to send her records of her grandfather Domingo Costales Mariano, who died in 1985. She was aware he served in the Army but didn’t realize that he served in the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment.

“I didn’t know what that was. I didn’t know what that meant,” she said. Kearns conducted research online and stumbled upon the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project website, where she learned more about the historic role of the unit in the war. It was through the website where she also learned about the Congressional Gold Medal.

Kearns submitted an application on her grandfather’s behalf to find out whether he was eligible to receive the medal.

About two to three weeks before the ceremony, Kearns received an invitation from the U.S. Congress to represent her grandfather at the event at Emancipation Hall in Washington. At a gala after the ceremony, she was presented with the bronze replica of the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of her grandfather.

“It was pretty miraculous. For me as a family member, how important it was to make this connection, it seems like everything was linking up for me. I’m truly grateful for it,” she said. “Although I didn’t meet my grandfather, I have something to remember him by.”