Can Abe Acknowledge the Truth

Bataan Death March by Ben Steele

Bataan Death March Survivor

To be in House Gallery for Japanese PM Speech

Listening for Acknowledgment

American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor to hold Press Conference

CARBONDALE, Ill., April 28, 2015/ADBC-Memorial Society/ --

Lester Tenney, 94 – a former POW of Japan and Bataan Death March survivor will be a guest of Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA) at Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s speech to a joint meeting of Congress on April 29th. That evening he will be a guest of the Japanese Embassy at their Gala dinner to be held at the Smithsonian.

Caroline Burkhart - Vice President of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society (ADBC-MS) and daughter of Bataan defender and former POW of Japan will also attend the speech by Mr. Abe as a guest of Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA).

Dr. Tenney was the last National Commander of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor. He successfully negotiated with the Government of Japan and the US State Department Japan’s 2009 offer of an apology to the American POWs of Japan and the program of reconciliation and visitation to Japan for former POWs. He was a tank commander from the famous Maywood, Illinois National Guard, Company B, 192nd Tank Battalion and fought in the Battle for Bataan from December 1941 to April 9, 1942. He survived the infamous Bataan Death March, a Hellship to Japan, and slave labor mining coal for Mitsui at Fukuoka #17 Branch POW Camp in Omuta. 

A press conference will be held with Dr. Tenney and Ms. Jan Thompson, President of the ADBC-MS on Thursday, April 30 at 9:00am at the American Institute for the Study of Contemporary Germany, 1755 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC.

Ms. Thompson is the daughter of a USS Canopus sailor who was a POW held in Mukden, China. She is a filmmaker chronicling the ordeal of the American POWs of Japan.

For more details, contact the ADBC Memorial Society President Ms. Jan Thompson.