Cordero was born in San Juan, the capital city of Puerto Rico when the island was still a Spanish colony.

[1][3] On December 8, 1941, when Japanese planes attacked the U.S. military installations in the Philippines, Cordero, who by then held the rank of colonel, was the Battalion Commander of the 31st Infantry Regiment.

[1] The 31st Infantry covered the withdrawal of American and Philippine forces to the Bataan Peninsula and fought for four months, despite the fact that no help could come in from the outside after much of the United States Pacific Fleet was destroyed at Pearl Harbor and mid-ocean bases at Guam and Wake Island were lost.

Cordero along with other senior US military officers were liberated in the Mukden POW Camp after the unconditional surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945.

Company: Commanding Officer Regiment: 72nd Infantry Regiment Division: 71st Division, Philippine Army The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in Lieu of a Second Award of the Silver Star to Colonel (Infantry) Virgil N. Cordero (ASN: 0-7472), United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy while serving as Commanding Officer, 72nd Infantry Regiment, 71st Division, Philippine Army, in action in Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands, on 9 April 1942.

Upon the termination of the fighting in Bataan, Colonel Cordero was occupying a defensive position near Bagac while awaiting final surrender instructions.

[7] On June 9, 1980, Cordero died of lung ailment in the U.S. Navy Hospital at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Ceiba, Puerto Rico.