In memoriam Senator John McCain POW

McCain Memorial in Hanoi

Senator John McCain faced adversity with dignity and honesty. As a POW, he knew the depths of inhumanity as well as the raw joy from an act of kindness. His POW experience sharpened his moral compass and gave him the resolve to stand firm where others would not. I send the heartfelt sympathies of the American POWs of Japan, their descendants, and the members of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society to his wife Cindy and the entire McCain family, and our thanks to God for the life of John McCain.

fac fortia et patere 

[do brave deeds and endure]

Statement August 26, 2018

Ms. Jan Thompson 

President

American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor Memorial Society

Daughter of PhM2c Robert E. Thompson USN, USS Canopus (AS-9)

Survivor of Corregidor, Bilibid, Oryoku Maru, Enoura Maru, 

Brazil Maru, Fukuoka 3B & Mukden

POW# 2011

The ADBC-MS is the only sanctioned successor to the original American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor organization formed by surviving POWs of Japan in 1946. The mission is to preserve the legacy of the American POWs held in the Pacific during World War II.

God Bless Albert Brown

Albert Brown, America's oldest survivor of the infamous Bataan Death March and the oldest living American Veteran of WW II, died August 14th. The New York Times and most other major market newspapers reported his passing.

The Bataan Death March is considered one of the worst war crimes of World War II. With the April 9th surrender of the troops on Bataan in The Philippines, the Times reports:

With many already close to death, they [American and Filipino troops and civilians] were forced to trudge [65 miles]  toward a prisoner-of-war camp during a torrid time of year with little food or water. Those who stopped were killed. Japanese soldiers fractured skulls with rifle butts and cut off heads. Prisoners who tried to help fallen comrades were bludgeoned or stabbed. “One 18-year-old I knew, he fell down,” Mr. Brown said in the book [see below]. “A guard came along and put a gun to his head, pulled the trigger and walked away.” 

As horrific as the Death March was, the next three years as a slave laborer for the Mitsui Mining Company (today known as Nippon Coke & Enginieering Company which is now owned by Mitsui, Sumitomo and Nippon Steel) in Bibai, Hokkaido was worse.  The Mitsui POW camp that held Mr. Brown included 238 British, 50 Americans, 53 Dutch, 8 Australians, one Canadian, and one Estonian (as recorded 15 August 1945). There were 114 POW deaths from abuse, malnutrition, disease, and lack of medical care. The Times reports: 

The nightmare was hardly over when the survivors [of the Bataan Death March] arrived at the camp, or at the other camps in Japan to which many, including Captain Brown, were later taken. In three years in captivity Captain Brown was regularly beaten; thrown down stairs, seriously injuring his back; and struck in the neck by a rifle butt, causing a fracture. Though nearly 6 feet, he weighed 90 pounds when he was freed after the Japanese surrender. 

Captain Brown's injuries were so severe that he was not expected to survive more than a few years after liberation. To learn more about his experiences as a POW of Japan and his inspiration for survival, see a new biography about him, Forsaken Heroes of the Pacific War: One Man’s True Story (2011).

Captain Brown's congressman is Jerry F. Costello (D-IL) who participates on both the Army and Air Force Caucuses. Representative Brown has NOT yet become a co-sponsor of H. Res. 333 honoring veterans like Captain Brown who were POWs of Japan (August 17, 20011).

The use of forced labor in Japan's mines was not unusual. A Japanese-government study of the history of coal mining on Hokkaido notes that the use of prisoners was the most effective sourcing for mining labor on the sparsely-populated island.

Mitsui is Japan's oldest and largest trading company. It operates in 67 countries and is involved in many projects in the U.S. You can find information on its early history HERE. Mitusi operated the greatest number of POW camps in Japan as well as owned the most "Hellships" that transported POWs to Japan and its colonies.

Requests to obtain an apology from Mitsui for its use of and profit from POW slave labor have gone unanswered. Mitsui's corporate social responsibility charter, is founded upon its published values, which begin with the company's commitment to: Build trust with fairness and humility. If you want to ask Mitsui why it refuses to apologize for its extensive use and abuse of POW slave labor, fax its Washington, DC office, (202) 861-0437 or call (202) 861-0660 or email.

Condolences

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On March 11, 2011 the Northeast coast of Japan, Tohoku, was consumed by the triple disasters of an earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. Towns and families were swept out to sea while the earthquake pushed Japan closer to China. The uncontrolled release of radioactivity contaminated the land, water, and air.

Eleven POW camps were once among the towns and villages of the Tohoku region. More if you count those that were formally administered in the Tokyo region but closer to Sendai, the earthquake's epicenter in the Tohoku region. 

Despite the painful memories of abuse and deprivation, many former POWs of Japan empathized with the Japanese who had their lives torn apart by both the natural and man-made triple disasters.

Thus on March 25th, a small delegation of descendants of American POWs of Japan delivered a letter of condolence to Japan's Embassy in Washington, DC. It was signed by the POWs and POW descendants who participated in the first American POW Friendship exchange program in September 2010.

Below is the text of the letter they delivered. HERE are various other messages of sympathy from former POWs and their descendants.

March 25, 2011
 

His Excellency Ichiro Fujisaki
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan
Embassy of Japan
2520 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C.   20008 

Dear Ambassador Fujisaki:

We watch with a heavy heart the devastation of your nation and your citizens and want you to know that the Japanese people are in our thoughts and prayers.

As members of the first American POW Friendship delegation the sorrow for us is profound. We visited Japan knowing the pain of loss and despair and left with the warmth of friendship and understanding.

We plan to do what we can to aid and comfort our Japanese friends overcome the horrific damage done to their beautiful country. We are bound together by common peril and worry as well as the determination to overcome this crisis.

Please extend our sympathies and condolences to those that lost family members and our hopes go out to those that do not know the fate of theirs.

Most important, we send our heartfelt best wishes to all those involved in helping in the assistance and recovery efforts.

Most sincerely yours,

Dr. and Mrs. Lester Tenney
Last Commander of the American Defenders of Bataan and CorregidorCarlsbad, California

Ms. Jan Thompson
President, Descendants GroupMakanda, Illinois

Signing as well for:

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph AlexanderSan Antonio, Texas 

Ms. Judy ChorleyPrescott, Arizona

Mr. and Mrs. Edward JackfertTampa, Florida and Wellsburg, West Virginia  

Ms. Nancy KraghLudlow, Washington

Mr. Benjamin RosendahlAustin, Texas

Mr. Robert RosendahlSpringfield, Missouri 

Mr. and Mrs. Earl SzwaboFlorissant, Missouri  

Mr. Donald VersawLakewood, California