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| Japan Apologizes for Bataan Death March |
| 2009-05-31 |
| Ambassador Speaks to Last 73 American Survivors of the March The Japanese ambassador to the United States apologized in person today to the 73 surviving POWs of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines in April 1942 during World War II. "We extend a heartfelt apology for our country having caused tremendous damage and suffering to many people including prisoners of war, those who have undergone tragic experiences in the Bataan peninsula the Corregidor Island, Philippines and other places," Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki said at the last convention of the American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor POWs of the Japanese during World War II. Sixty-seven years after the Japanese captured and force-marched 12,000 Americans and 68,000 Philippines from the island of Corregidor to northern Luzon, denying them food and water, and killing the stragglers, the country apologized. The ambassador said he was speaking for the government of Japan as he apologized. "I would like to express my deepest condolences to those who have lose their lives to the war and after the war and their family members," he said. It is estimated that the Japanese killed nearly 1,000 Americans and more than 10,000 Philippine soldiers on the march. When news of the march reached the United States, it enflamed the anger against the Japanese, which was already high because of the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the country into the war. Lester Tenney, 88, former staff sergeant of the Army's 192nd Tank Division survived to write a book about the wartime injustice, called "My Hitch in Hell." As president of the American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor POWs of the Japanese during World War II, he made it his mission to pursue an apology from the Japanese government for the brutal treatment during that 12-day, 86-mile march in which stragglers were bayoneted and their bodies tossed by the roadside. Last November, while in Washington, D.C., to commemorate Veterans Day, he received a call from the Japanese ambassador, who asked him to visit his residence and relate his request. Tenney described to him the tortuous experiences that he and his comrades had endured. The ambassador took Tenney's request to his government and wrote a letter of apology. Upon receipt of the letter, he was invited to deliver it in person to annual gathering. This will be the last time the POWS will host the gathering, the group has said. Their families, the Descendants Group will take on the memorial mission in the future. Speaking to reporters after the ambassador's remarks to the POWs, Tenney said he "feels good" about his efforts. He compared finally receiving the apology to "going 15 rounds in a fight and knocking out your opponent." Whatever Tenney's feelings about his Japanese captors during the war, today he said he admired the ambassador. "It takes an great amount of courage to come in the lion's den" and to express the Japanese point of view, Tenney said. Fujisaki ended his remarks, "Today Japan and U.S. are the closest friends, best allies. But we should always keep in our minds that this good relations, this status of past experience and efforts," Fujisaki said. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are committed to carry on the torch to our future generations of this excellent and irreplaceable friendship and |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #5 They should have hit them in the pocketbook when the economy was still cruising along in Japan. Except the final treaty, not to be confused with the surrender document signed on the Missouri, removed that opportunity. Clause 16 of the San Francisco Treaty states: As an expression of its desire to indemnify those members of the armed forces of the Allied Powers who suffered undue hardships while prisoners of war of Japan, Japan will transfer its assets and those of its nationals in countries which were neutral during the war, or which were at war with any of the Allied Powers, or, at its option, the equivalent of such assets, to the International Committee of the Red Cross which shall liquidate such assets and distribute the resultant fund to appropriate national agencies, for the benefit of former prisoners of war and their families on such basis as it may determine to be equitable. The categories of assets described in Article 14(a)2(II)(ii) through (v) of the present Treaty shall be excepted from transfer, as well as assets of Japanese natural persons not residents of Japan on the first coming into force of the Treaty. It is equally understood that the transfer provision of this Article has no application to the 19,770 shares in the Bank for International Settlements presently owned by Japanese financial institutions. Clause 16 has served as a bar against subsequent lawsuits filed by former Allied prisoners of war against Japan. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-05-31 11:25 |
| #4 yeah kinda sad it took them 70 years after most the other survivors have died too get an apology. They should have hit them in the pocketbook when the economy was still cruising along in Japan. I hate too say sue but with as amnay frivolous lawsuits there are out there this fday an age this one would have too been a great thing too see it get paid off |
| Posted by: funky skunk 2009-05-31 10:22 |
| #3 Barbara...not to worry, Bambi and his minions wil find a way to make the Bataan Death March our fault. |
| Posted by: WolfDog 2009-05-31 10:10 |
| #2 Damn, is that a winged porcine creature I just saw fly past my window? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-05-31 09:48 |
| #1 http://ghostofbataan.com/bataan/abiemain.html |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-05-31 08:31 |