Sunday, March 31, 2013

Appeal to President Obama

On Thursday, March 28th, the Executive Director of the Washington Headquarter of the Disabled American Veterans service organization, Barry Jersinsoki hand delivered a letter to the White House for the American POWs of Japan asking the President to continue to press Japan for justice for the POWs.

The new Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has indicated that he may revisit and revise past war apologies. This can possibly jeopardize Japan's apology to the American POWs of Japan and the associated visitation program to Japan. Democratic Japan to engender trust should be expanding not retracting its acts of contrition.

The letter was signed by Joseph Vater, President of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (ADBC) Memorial Society. Most surviving American POWs of Japan are DAV members.

ADBC Members 2012

The text of the letter is as follows:

Dear Mr. President:

The American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (ADBC) Memorial Society represents surviving POWs of Japan, their families, and descendants. We write to ask that you and your Administration encourage the Japanese government to continue and expand a program—the POW/Japan Friendship Program—that has done much to honor the now aging population of former U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and mariners who were prisoners of war in Japan during World War II. 

The program is now at risk under the Abe government; cancellation would be a grave mistake and undermine recent reconciliation efforts by Japan.

In WWII, tens of thousands of American military and civilian personnel were held as POWs by the Japanese, mostly in the Philippines. Later, they were sent to Japan and other places on “Hellships” to be the slave labor’s who ran the factories, mines, and dockyards of Japanese industry. Those who survived carried out back-breaking labor.  Four of every ten died in captivity from brutal treatment and willful neglect by the Japanese military and company employees.

In 2009, the Japanese government at long last delivered a formal apology to American POWs for the abuse and maltreatment inflicted upon them during the war. The following year, a program of reconciliation, POW/Japan Friendship Program, was established by the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Three groups of former American POWs and their family members have been invited to Japan over the past three years.

The POW/Japan Friendship Program has brought immeasurable benefits to the former POWs, their families, and to the U.S.-Japan relationship. As you can see from this representative note to our newsgroup, it has brought closure and peace of mind to its participants:

This program has really helped my Dad [Harold Bergbower].  For years, Dad would have nightmares after any talk, show, or sometimes just because of his years as a POW.  Since our visit his nightmares have gone.  I cannot really put in words what that day at the Japanese Factory in Takaoka, Toyama, Japan did.  He has not forgotten or totally forgiven but there is now a peace to his remembrance. If you are able please consider participating in this program.  My Dad's memory is failing on his daily activities but he continues to recall his trip to Japan.  Now when he talks about his POW experience he can now add closure. 

More impressions of former POWs who have participated in the POW/Japan Friendship Program are on the Outreach section of our website at www.dg-adbc.org

The program has been a solid example of learning together from the past while promoting dialogue and friendship between Americans and Japanese.

It concerns us that the Abe Administration may end the POW/Japan Friendship Program. The success of this visitation program should encourage democratic Japan to do more, not less.

We want widows, children, and other descendants to be included in the program as they have also been affected by POW experience of their relatives. We want those Japanese companies that enslaved American POWs to acknowledge their use of POWs. We want their government to continue and expand this program to include research, documentation, and people-to-people exchanges.

Presently, some of these companies do not even allow our nonagenarian POWs to visit the sites of their imprisonment and slave labor. This issue is even more poignant today as two Abe Cabinet ministers have family ties to companies that used POW slave labor during the war.

We are grateful for the State Department’s past efforts to encourage the Japanese government to do the right thing by initiating a process of reconciliation with American POWs.

We ask that you encourage Japan to maintain this successful visitation program for former POWs, members of America’s greatest generation, and to expand it to make it a permanent program of friendship and education that will benefit both Americans and Japanese in years to come. 



Sunday, March 17, 2013

Submission to the Joint Veterans' Affairs Committees

On March 6, 2013, Mr. Joseph A. Vater, Jr., Esq. (PA), President, president of the ADBC Memorial Society submitted the testimony below for the record to the Joint House and Senate Committees on Veterans' Affairs to receive Legislative Presentation of Multiple Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs).

Prime Minster of Japan Shinzo Abe has said that he wants to review and possibly reissue past apologies that Japan has offered for its initiating the war in the Pacific and committing war crimes--war apology (Fusen Ketsugi). This is alarming to the American POWs of Japan as they were offered one of the few official apologies given by the Japanese government. And this apology laid the foundation for Japan offering a program of acknowledgement and repair.

Officially, the Government of Japan has issued only four war-related apologies. The criteria for "official" is that the apology has to be approved by the Cabinet with a Cabinet Decision (kakugi kettei) or approved by the Diet. No war apology can be said to be approved by the Diet. Prime Minister Murayama's Statement in 1995, Prime Minister Koizumi's Statement in 2005, Prime Minister Kan's Statement in 2010 (only directed toward South Korea) and the 2009 apology to the American former POWs (buried in a February 6, 2009 reply, #171-22 [English, Question III, #3], to a Dietmember, which is legally a Cabinet Decision) are the only cabinet approved apologies. A recent paper published by Japan's National Institute for Defense Studies NIDs appears to confirm this view.

The Kono Statement offered as an apology to the Comfort Women in 1993 was not approved by the Cabinet. On March 16, 2007, however, the first Abe Cabinet did approve a Cabinet Decision affirming that the Kono Statement was not Cabinet approved. This Cabinet Decision does note that all following Cabinets have, however, acknowledged the Kono Statement as an apology, just not officially.

Thus, in this ambiguous political environment, the apology to the American POWs is likely to be in jeopardy. Further, the program of repair and reconciliation--the US/Japan POW Friendship Program--is also threatened. Indeed, the unwillingness of the Japanese Foreign Ministry to expand the program to include widows, family members, and descendants is troubling. In light of the international trends toward extending peace and reconciliation programs to conflict victims, democratic Japan, an ally of the United States has an opportunity to turn the successful visitation program for the surviving POWs into a model.

With these issues in mind, Mr. Vater offered his testimony to the Veterans' Affairs Committees:

Chairmen Sanders and Miller, Ranking Members Burr and Michaud, Members of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees, thank you for allowing us to present the concerns of veterans of World War II’s Pacific Theater to Congress. The American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (ADBC) Memorial Society represents surviving POWs of Japan, their families, and descendants.

In 2009, the Government of Japan belatedly recognized the extraordinary abuse suffered by the American POWs of Japan. An official apology was offered by the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and a course of reconciliation established called the POW/Japan Friendship Program.

Imagine our dismay when we learned that the new Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, may rescind Japan’s war apologies. We naturally worry that the reconciliation effort, the POW/Japan Friendship Program, is also in jeopardy. Although our membership was, understandably, divided on the value of the 2009 apology, a repudiation of the apology and cessation of the popular visitation program would send an unambiguous message of disrespect to the former POWs and harm the U.S.-Japan Alliance.

The U.S. State Department’s involvement was vital to the effort to obtain the apology and to establish the visitation program. It is our hope that Congress will work with the Obama Administration to persuade Japan to hold to its promises and responsibilities. Japan needs to be encouraged to do more.

As way of background, it was at the final convention of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (ADBC) in May 2009 that the Government of Japan through the Japanese Ambassador to the U.S., Ichiro Fujisaki, and then again in 2010 through its Foreign Minister, Katsuya Okada, offered the American POWs of Japan an official apology:
We extend a heartfelt apology for our country having caused tremendous damage and suffering to many people, including prisoners of wars, those who have undergone tragic experiences in the Bataan Peninsula, Corregidor Island, in the Philippines, and other places.
The Japanese Government followed up the apology by initiating a provisional program for American former POWs to visit Japan and return to the places of their imprisonment and slave labor. Nearly all the original Japanese companies that used POW slave labor still exist and often continue to operate facilities at the same sites associated with their assigned POW camps. Thus far, there have been three trips: 2010, 2011, and 2012.

It concerns us that the Abe Administration wants to limit the program to former POWs and possibly end the program this year. Widows, children, and other descendants have also been profoundly affected by the POW experiences of their relatives and they should be included in future programs. We are concerned about how little Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has publicized the program’s accomplishments and goodwill. We are troubled that some Japanese companies have refused to allow our nonagenarian POWs to visit the sites of their imprisonment and slave labor.

The success of the POW/Japan Friendship Program should encourage Japan to do more. 

Still we wait for Japan’s great multi-national corporations to acknowledge their use and abuse of POW labor. Still we wait for Japan to create national memorials to the POWs who slaved and died on Japanese soil. Still we wait for memorials for American POWs who died on Japan’s Hellships and in occupied territories outside Japan such as Taiwan, Northeast China, Wake Island, and Guam. And still we wait for Japan to establish a fund to continue this visitation program and to include research, documentation, people-to-people exchanges, and promotion of human rights.

We want to see the trips to Japan continued and to include widows, descendants, and researchers. We want the visitation program to be turned into a permanent program not subject to the Japanese government’s yearly budget review. 

Prime Minister Abe is in a unique position to extend and enhance this visitation program. Two of his Cabinet members have family ties to companies that used POW slave labor during the war.

By showing his government’s acknowledgement of the pain inflicted on soldiers of what is now Japan’s closest ally, the United States, Prime Minister Abe can strengthen bilateral relations at a fundamental level. It would engender trust among the Americans tasked with protecting Japan by honoring their veterans, and would signal to Japan’s other wartime victims that meaningful reconciliation is possible.

As you can see from this sampling of impressions by former POWs of their trip to Japan, it has brought closure and peace of mind to those who participated:
This program has really helped my Dad [Harold Bergbower, Past National Commander, ADBC]. For years, Dad would have nightmares after any talk, show, or sometimes just because of his years as a POW. Since our visit his nightmares have gone. I cannot really put in words what that day at the Japanese Factory in Takaoka, Toyama, Japan did. He has not forgotten or totally forgiven but there is now a peace to his remembrance. If you are able please consider participating in this program. My Dad's memory is failing on his daily activities but he continues to recall his trip to Japan. Now when he talks about his POW experience he can now add closure. The audience is amazed at his story. I was honored to go with Dad to Japan. If you are a descendant please talk with your parent about the program. It truly is a life changer.

Mr. James Collier later reflected on the trip to Takaoka, whose natural beauty he had never recognized while being a POW: “After meeting the kind people at JMC and after observing the beautiful surroundings of the city, I realized that I had been robbed of the opportunity of truly knowing this place for the past 66 years. Takaoka had always remained as a dark and depressing place in my mind. Yet this visit has finally afforded me the opportunity to appreciate its beauty.”

Mr. Roy Friese met up with Mr. Kensuke Morooka, Representative of the Association for Recording Air Raids of Omuta. His family home was completely destroyed in the fire-bombing of June 18, 1945. “I remember I saw POWs when I was a boy of thirteen. The skeletal POWs were crammed upright into trucks,” he told Mr. Friese as they shook hands. “The facts of sixty-six years ago should never be forgotten. But instead of animosity, we have to hold onto our belief that stupid wars should never happen again,” said Mr. Morooka. “I had felt various prejudices but they are all gone now,” said Mr. Friese as he left the POW camp site. More observations by former POWs who have participated in the POW/Japan Friendship Program are on the Outreach section of our website at www.dg-adbc.org. The program is a tangible benefit of the acknowledgement by Japan of some of Imperial Japan’s injustices.
We are grateful for the State Department’s recent efforts to encourage the Japanese government to do the right thing by initiating a process of reconciliation. The irony is that in 1995 the Japanese government established a program of reconciliation and exchange for all former Allied POWs with the exception of American POWs. We hope that Congress will now encourage the State Department to continue to make up for lost opportunities and time.

We ask for Congress and the Obama Administration to insist that Japan maintain its visitation program for former POWs and expand this remarkable program to include family members, to initiate a plan to preserve their history, and support for human rights education.

Thank you for this opportunity to address your committees.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Lousi Zamperini and Resilience


Resilience guides former Olympian, prisoner of war

By YASMEEN SERHAN · Daily Trojan, March 13, 2013

Olympian distance runner, World War II  hero and celebrated Alumnus Louis Zamperini spoke to a maximum capacity audience about the power of resiliance.
Courage ยท USC alum Louis Zamperini speaks Wednesday at Bovard Auditorium about how his Olympic and POW experiences shaped his life. - Priyanka Patel | Daily Trojan
Courage · USC alum Louis Zamperini speaks Wednesday at Bovard Auditorium about how his Olympic and POW experiences shaped his life. — Priyanka Patel | Daily Trojan
The event, entitled “The Great Zamperini: USC Trojan, Olympian and War Hero,”  was hosted by the Undergraduate Student Government, USC Spectrum and Program Board in conjuction with the Sol Price School of Public Policy, the Kappa Sigma Fraternity and the Student Alumni Society.
The second event of the Student Alumni Society’s 5 Traits of a Trojan Speaker Series focused on the Trojan trait of courage, and also included a performance by the Sol Price School of Public Policy color guard and a video introduction by Zamperini’s son, Luke.
Zamperini, who greeted the crowd of students, faculty and alumni sporting a cardinal and gold hat with his hands poised in the ‘fight on’ sign, spent the remainder of the evening sharing stories of his life, notably his 8th-place performance in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, his experience being stranded for 47 days after his aircraft crashed into the Japanese-controlled waters of the Pacific Ocean s and his survival as a Japanese prisoner of war during World War II.
Throughout the tales of his time in the Japanese prison camps, Zamperini described his two and a half year survival as a time of little hope.
“Every morning I woke up and expected that this was the day,” Zamperini said. ‘This is the day they’re going to kill us.”
Despite the serious tales of his life as a prisoner of war and his eventual rescue, Zamperini was not without humor.
“The mayor asked me if any good came out of being a prisoner of war in Japan,” Zamperini said. “I said, ‘Yeah, it prepared me for 55 years of married life.”
Zamperini recounted his post-war memories, from his assimilation to life after the war to his religious revitalization after listening to a talk by Christian evangelist Billy Graham. It was these same experiences that Zamperini recollected to encourage students to always be resilient.
“Life is full of problems,” Zamperini said. “Sometimes the problems are difficult, but you have to be resolute.”
When asked about how he survived his experiences in war, Zamperini recounted lessons his track coach taught him.
“You have to take the bull by the horns and fight ‘til the finish,” Zamperini said.
In closing, Zamperini reaffirmed his lifelong membership in the Trojan Family.
“I was in this room when I just got back from the war,” Zamperini said of Bovard Auditorium. “Wherever I go, people see my hat. I’m a Trojan though and through.”
Many students said the event reaffirmed their faith in the strength of the Trojan Family.
“Zamperini embodied every aspect about what I hope I will achieve in this lifetime,” said Kenneth Mang, a sophomore majoring in business administration. “This was an extraordinary opportunity, and I hope to have the chance to see him again.”
Jaideep Chadha, a junior majoring in business administration, said Zamperini’s return to the university at the age of 96 represents the strength and timelessness of the Trojan Family.
“His story is not only inspirational, but it shows how important the Trojan Family is and how much these connections matter,” Chadha said.
Student Alumni Society Co-Director Maheen Sahoo said Zamperini is a great example for Trojans everywhere.
“Louis Zamperini truly embodies what it means to be a Trojan and what it means to be one of the five traits — courageous,” Sahoo said. “I think we’re really lucky to have him here on our campus.”

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Desperate Defense of the Philippines



A Book Discussion With Author

John Gordon
The winner of the NYMAS 2011
Arthur Goodzeit Book Award


Friday, March 15, 2013
7 pm to 8:45 pm

The Soldiers Sailors Club
283 Lexington Avenue 
(between 36th and 37th Streets)
New York City

Free and open to the public

As the only single-volume work to offer a full account of Navy and Marine Corps actions in the Philippines during World War II, this book provides a unique source of information on the early part of the war. It is filled with never-before-published details about the fighting, based on a rich collection of American and newly discovered Japanese sources, and includes a revealing discussion of the buildup of tensions between Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the Navy that continued for the remainder of the war. U.S. Army veteran and defense analyst John Gordon describes in considerable detail the unusual missions of the Navy and Marine Corps in the largely Army campaign, where sailors fought as infantrymen alongside their Marine comrades at Bataan and Corregidor, crews of Navy ships manned the Army's heavy coastal artillery weapons, and Navy submarines desperately tried to supply the men with food and ammunition. He also chronicles the last stand of the Navy's colorful China gunboats at Manila Bay.

The book gives the most detailed account ever published of the Japanese bombing of the Cavite Navy Yard outside Manila on the third day of the war, which was the worst damage inflicted on a U.S. Navy installation since the British burned the Washington Navy Yard in 1814. It also closely examines the surrender of the 4th Marines at Corregidor, the only time in history that the U.S. Marine Corps lost a regiment in combat. To provide readers with a Japanese perspective of the fighting, Gordon draws on the recently discovered diary of a leader of the Japanese amphibious assault force that fought against the Navy's provisional infantry battalion on southern Bataan, and he also makes full use of the U.S. ship logs and the 4th Marine unit diary that were evacuated from Manila Bay shortly before the U.S. forces surrendered.

John Gordon, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army with a PhD in public policy, is a senior defense analyst at a defense think tank, and has written widely on military subjects. A resident of Gainesville, VA, he also serves as an adjunct professor at George Mason University and Georgetown University.

~ Peek Inside the Book ~

SUNK IN KULA GULF



Book Discussion with Author

click to order book
John Domagalski

Thursday, March 14, 2013
Noon-1:30pm 

Navy Memorial
701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Naval Heritage Center
Washington, DC

The early morning hours of July 6, 1943, found the USS Helena off the Solomon Islands in what would later be known as the Battle of Kula Gulf. But the ship’s participation in the battle came to a swift end when three Japanese torpedoes suddenly struck. One hundred and sixty-eight sailors went down with the ship, many never surviving the initial torpedo hits. As the last of the Helena disappeared below the ocean’s surface, the remaining crewmen’s struggle for survival had only just begun.

Sunk in Kula Gulf tells the epic story of the Helena’s survivors. Two destroyers plucked more than seven hundred from the sea in a night rescue operation as the battle continued to rage. A second group of eighty-eight sailors —clustered into three lifeboats—made it to a nearby island and was rescued the next day. A third group of survivors, spread over a wide area, was missed entirely. Clinging to life rafts or debris, the weary men were pushed away from the area of the sinking by a strong current. After enduring days at sea under the hot tropical sun, they finally found land. It was, however, the Japanese-held island of Vella Lavella and deep behind the front lines. The survivors organized and disappeared into the island’s interior jungle. Living a meager existence, the group evaded the Japanese for eight days until the Marines and U.S. Navy evacuated the shipwrecked sailors in a daring rescue operation.

Using a wide variety of sources, including previously unpublished firsthand accounts, John J. Domagalski brings to life this amazing, little-known story from World War II.