Who Bombed Pearl Harbor

On December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his famous "day in infamy" speech describing Imperial Japan's "dastardly attack" on Pearl Harbor and condemning Tokyo's "surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area."

Immediately following the speech, the U.S. Senate declared war on Japan. A state of war with Germany was declared December 11, hours after Germany had declared war on the United States.

There was no official, national remembrance of the tragedy at Pearl Harbor until 1994. The 103rd Congress passed a joint resolution in 1994 designating December 7, 1993, as "National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day." President Bill Clinton signed it into law (Public Law 103-308) on August 23rd. The law states: December 7 of each year is designated as "National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day" and the President is authorized and requested— (1) to issue annually a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities; and (2) to urge all Federal agencies, and interested organizations, groups, and individuals, to fly the flag of the United States at halfstaff" each December 7 in honor of the individuals who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor.

Historians will wonder why the law identifies the nonexistent Japanese "Air Force" as the aggressor and is not specific about the number of casualties at Pearl Harbor. At the time, Japan did not have an independent Air Force. It was the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service that attacked Hawaii. In addition, unlike in President Roosevelt's speech, there is no mention of Japan's other lightning strikes throughout the Pacific on December 7th. These attacks famously destroyed the American Asiatic Fleet and the Army's Far East Air Force while cutting off U.S. outposts in the Pacific from the mainland and resuplly.

The Proclamations
The first proclamation was issued by President Clinton on November 29, 1994, 53 years after the Pearl Harbor attack. His 1994 proclamation, as all that followed, did little to enlighten Americans about the day's history. Notably, it began the "tradition" of not identifying who "attacked" U.S. Forces in Hawaii that day. All that we learn is that the attack "involved America in a worldwide battle against the forces of fascism and oppression."

In an examination of the 30 Pearl Harbor Presidential proclamations made since 1994, 11 have no mention of Japan. In other words, the "enemy" who attacked the American territory is not identified. It could have been any of the Axis powers. Thailand had a modern, able air force, albeit no aircraft carriers.

President George W. Bush (43) recognized Japan in only two of his eight Pearl Harbor Day commemorative statements. His administration had a close relationship with Japan and notably squashed a joint congressional resolution remembering the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII and the defeat of Japan. President Biden, who lost his uncle and a cousin to the Japanese, has mentioned Japan in only one of his three statements. Here is the link to this year's Proclamation. (I have a memo outlining all 30 statements. If interested, email me.)

California Governor Gavin Newson's 2023 Pearl Harbor Day proclamation clearly mentions Japan. His grandfather, Arthur Menzies, was a soldier on Corregidor with the 60th Coast Artillery Regiment (AntiAircraft) K Battery and endured a hellship and nearly four years in Japanese POW Camps. He was not on the Bataan Death March as some reports say. Sadly, while experiencing a flashback in 1973, he threatened to kill Newsom's mother and her twin sister. When he realized that they were not Japanese prison guards, he turned the gun on himself.

Missing
I have not found any member of congress, even members of the Veterans Affairs Committees in the House and Senate who have publicly remembered Pearl Harbor Day. If you find one, please tell me.

Also missing in the proclamations is mention of all the other attacks Japan made that day throughout the Pacific, especially against the American territories of Wake Island, Guam, Midway, and Howland Island. I leave to my loyal readers to figure out how many other Americans died that day in battle (tell me if you run the numbers). President Roosevelt, in contrast, was quite clear in his speech to Congress that December 7th was a day of multiple Japanese attacks in the Asia-Pacific (territories in continental Asia were bombed as well as islands in the Pacific).

To be sure, Pearl Harbor saw the greatest number of casualties and Medal of Honor (MoH) honorees among the American territories in the Pacific attacked that day. For their actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor, 15 sailors in the U.S. Navy (from seven ships and one Naval Air Station) and 1 Marine were awarded Medals of Honor. The 16 recipients held a wide range of ranks, from seaman to rear admiral. Eleven (69%) received their awards posthumously.

The first Marine to receive the Medal of Honor during World War II was killed on Midway, December 7, 1941. First Lieutenant George H. Cannon, USMC, from Michigan, remained at his post until all of his wounded men were evacuated, though severely wounded himself. His selfless action and concern for his men was an inspiration.

When war began, the American Embassy rushed to burn documents before the Kempeitai arrested and interned them. Niles W. Bond was a consular officer in Yokohama, Japan from 1940-1942 and was there during the attack on Pearl Harbor. His accounts of the time make interesting reading.

From the Congressional Record [Page S8959]

NATIONAL PEARL HARBOR REMEMBRANCE DAY AND 

HONORING THE TANKERS OF MAYWOOD, ILLINOIS

U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth

December 7, 2012

Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, I rise today on Pearl Harbor Day to remind my colleagues that on December 7, 1941, Imperial Japan attacked not only Pearl Harbor but also the Philippine Islands, Guam, Wake Island, Howland Island, Midway, Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Bangkok.

In the Philippines that day, 89 men from Maywood, IL, who made up Company ``B'' of the 192nd Tank Battalion--federated National Guard units from Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Ohio--defended Clark Field from invading Japanese forces. They had arrived in the Philippines less than 3 weeks earlier.

These Illinois tankers watched helplessly as Japan's modern planes flew beyond the reach of their guns and destroyed the airfield. They then fought valiantly on the Bataan Peninsula with antiquated weapons and dwindling supplies. Relief from the United States never came. Though they held out for months, the men, overcome with fatigue, starvation, and disease, were surrendered by their commanders on April 9, 1942.

What followed was the infamous Bataan Death March 100 miles up the peninsula to a makeshift prison camp. Thousands died. Maywood, a hamlet outside of Chicago, had the greatest number of men from any single American town on the Death March. They would not all make it home. Those who survived the initial march endured 3 and a half years of death camps, brutal forced labor, and unimaginable abuse. More than half the Americans taken prisoner on Bataan died before they could see the war's end. Of the 89 Maywood men of Company ``B'' who left the U.S. in 1941, only 43 returned home in 1945.

For 79 years, Maywood has celebrated and remembered its heroes of Bataan with an annual September Memorial. Like many important celebrations in COVID, this was the second year that the memorial had to be postponed. But we do not forget the men of Maywood. From the Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Bridge in Chicago to Maywood's Bataan Memorial Park, my home State of Illinois recalls daily their sacrifice for liberty.

As a retired member of the Illinois National Guard myself, today is a solemn day--a day that will forever live in infamy--when we are reminded of the sacrifices made and the brave lives lost in service to our Nation. I am proud to have served with my Illinois National Guard family and work to continue to bring respect, remembrance, and honor to such a strong legacy.

Therefore, I ask my fellow Senators to join me on this 80th anniversary of Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and to remember the other Americans who fought and died throughout the Pacific that day. Although the aim of the December 7 surprise attack on Hawaii's Pearl Harbor was to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet in its home port and to discourage U.S. action in Asia, the other strikes served as preludes to full-scale invasion and brutal military occupation.

I further ask my colleagues to join me in commending the hard work and dedication of Maywood Bataan Day Organization President Col. Richard A. McMahon, Jr., and his board of directors, as well as Ms. Jan Thompson, president of the Illinois-based American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society, who are committed to honoring and preserving the history of the men and women of Bataan who gave so much in the fight against tyranny and fascism. They, too, are the part of the story of Pearl Harbor Day and in keeping the memory of the men of Maywood alive to this day.

Eighty Years Ago, Japan Assaulted More Than Pearl Harbor

Kota Bharu

On December 7, 1941, Japan expanded its war on the Asian mainland south and eastward into the Pacific.

by Mindy L. Kotler

National Interest, Dec 7, 2021

Eighty years ago today, December 7, 1941, critical airfields and ports across Southeast Asia and the Pacific were ablaze and in ruin. In just seven hours, Imperial Japan’s surprise attacks cripled British and American forces in the Far East, exposed the Dutch East Indies to invasion, and pushed Thailand into submission. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was but one of many that day. Casualties of the “Associated Powers,” likely exceeded those in Hawaii. One result of these unprovoked attacks was the creation of alliances that endure to this day.

Japan coordinated attacks on the U.S. territories of Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Howland Island, and Midway and the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Japanese forces invaded and bombed Thailand’s airfields. In Shanghai, Japan took control of the International Settlement after blowing up the last two British and American gunboats on the Yangtze, the HMS Peterel and the USS Wake.  

The first attack, 70 minutes before Pearl Harbor, was on British-Indian forces at Kota Bharu, on the eastern side of Malaya. Hours before, a British flying boat was shot down by Japanese aircraft while monitoring the progress of the Japanese fleet. The British Royal Air Force crew and their Royal Australian Air Force observer became the first Allied casualties of the war. The ensuing defense of northeastern Malaya was fierce and savage with high casualties on both sides. 

Soon after, Bangkok was bombed and Japanese troops landed to its south and at various points along the Kra Peninsula on the southeastern coast of Thailand. Again, the invaders met with stiff resistance. Despite determined Thai forces, the fighting lasted only five hours. Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram agreed to a ceasefire and formed an alliance with Japan. The Kota Bharu landings were a prelude to the drive down the eastern side of the Malay peninsula, while the Japanese troops landed in Thailand advanced with Thai soldiers down the western side to seize Singapore and its naval base--the cornerstone of British power in the Indo-Pacific. Japanese planes bombed Singapore that day in warning.

Japan’s early morning attack on Pearl Harbor on Hawaii’s Oahu, was followed by the bombardments of the American airfields on Midway and Howland Island in the equatorial Pacific. Two of the four Hawaii settlers on Howland were killed. For his selfless defense of Midway, First Lieutenant George H. Cannon became the first U.S. Marine in World War II to receive the Medal of Honor.

Guam was shelled, bombed, and invaded. The American territory fell two days later. Of the nearly 500 American military personnel taken to Japan from Guam as prisoners of war, five were female nurses. Japanese troops occupied Batan Island above Northern Luzon in the Philippines before mounting a full-scale invasion. This approach on Aparri on the coast of Cagayan Valley, believed by American war planners as impractical, caught the defenders off-guard and unprepared. The success of the surprise assault was played out just this past fall when U.S., Filipino, and Japanese forces held their first joint amphibious exercises near this Northern Luzon town.

Six hours after the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese bombed Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport and pushed the defending British and Commonwealth troops to the defensive Gin Drinkers Line. The territory, however, was long regarded as indefensible. Nevertheless British, Indian, Canadian  units along with the Auxiliary Defence Units and Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC) held out for two weeks against a Japanese force twice its size.

The Japanese attacked Wake Island about the same time as they bombed Hong Kong. The Americans on Wake Island were composed of 400 Marines, a handful of soldiers and sailors, 45 Chamorro Pan Am employees,  and 1,146 unarmed civilian contractors building an airfield. They proceeded to do what had never been done before or after, hold off an Armada for nearly two weeks. They did not surrender until December 23rd.

The last Japanese actions on December 7th were the bombing of the Iba and Clark airfields in southern Luzon, the Philippines. As in Hawaii, the Japanese caught the American planes on the ground and the defense weak. The guns of neither the ageing artillery batteries nor tank battalions defending the fields could reach the high flying Japanese planes. Whereas the attack on Pearl Harbor damaged the Pacific Fleet, the attack on the Philippines and other U.S. territories destroyed the Far East Air Force. 

The first battle casualty of the Armored Force in World War II, Pvt. Robert Brooks of Kentucky’s Company D, 192nd Tank Battalion, took place on Clark Field. Back at Fort Knox, the home of the newly formed Armored Force, the Commanding General Jacob Devers responded to the news by ordering that the main parade ground at the base be named after the young tanker. This distinction was particularly significant as Brooks turned out to be African American.

On December 7, 1941, Japan expanded its war on the Asian mainland south and eastward into the Pacific. The primary objective was to knock out American and British opposition to its advance into Southeast Asia. The ultimate goal was occupation of the Indo-Pacific, control over  its valuable natural resources, and supremacy over the region's seas. As the sun set, Japan's success seemed possible.

Instead, the day’s debacles forged alliances with a resolve to fight fascist expansionism East and West. The “Associated Powers” (Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States) became the Allies and expanded to include India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and free forces from Japan’s occupied territories. The shared bitter experience of Imperial Japan’s wanton brutality and deceits provided the emotional bond to this warfighting coalition. Ironically, these very alliances are what Japan today looks to in defending its homeland. 

Pearl Harbor, Midway and the American POWs of Japan

This year is the 78th anniversary of the "date that will live in infamy" -- December 7, 1941.

Few know that Japan bombed not only Pearl Harbor that day, but also the U.S. territories of The Philippine Islands, Wake, Midway, Guam, and Howland Island, as well as Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai, Malaya, and Singapore.

The June 1942 Battle of Midway has been recently in the news as a new film has come out and two of the sunken Japanese aircraft carriers have been found. I have seen the movie and it is not as bad as many have said. It does its job and shows the incredible bravery of the young men who took to the seas and skies to fight the Japanese onslaught. However, it is helpful to know the history, and the dialogue is horrid. Here is a Smithsonian article comparing the various Midway movies,

The film correctly depicts the capture and murder of one American airman. There were actually three, maybe four POWs who were held by the Japan's Imperial Navy from this battle. Three were from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) and executed aboard the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Makigumo. After a brutal interrogation, they were bound with ropes, tied to weighted fuel cans, and then thrown overboard to drown. The Makigumo hit a mine off Guadalcanal in 1943 and sank. One POW, Ensign Osmus was from the USS Yorktown and captured by the Arashi. He was thrown overboard, but managed to grab the chain railing. A fire axe was then employed to complete the execution.

Frank W. O'Flaherty

Bruno Peter Gaido

John Cady Lough

Wesley Frank Osmus

The above link to the POWs' "Find a Grave" site

Please visit and add a flower of remembrance

Words cannot see - Abe's Pearl Harbor

Anemone 
Kazuhiko Kuwata 

Views Of War Museum Directors Split Over Abe's Pearl Harbor Visit

Tokyo, Dec. 29 (Jiji Press)--The directors of three museums focusing on war history in Japan expressed different views on Wednesday about Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Pearl Harbor on Tuesday.

Kazushige Todaka, the 68-year-old director of the Kure Maritime Museum, better known as Yamato Museum, in the western prefecture of Hiroshima, described Abe's visit as "very good." "It was meaningful that the leaders of Japan and the United States together mourned for the victims" of the 1941 Japanese attack on the Hawaiian harbor, Todaka said.

He supported the absence of an apology for the attack in Abe's speech delivered in Pearl Harbor, saying that "people can't blame one side or the other for a war that requires reflection, not apology." Abe's Pearl Harbor visit was "remarkable in terms of history," Todaka said.

Katsumoto Saotome, the 84-year-old director of the Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, in Japan's capital, expressed concerns over the emphasis on the Japan-U.S. alliance in Abe's speech, terming it "a military alliance." The words "tolerance" and "reconciliation," both used in Abe's speech, sounded "hollow," Saotome said, referring to the Japanese government's resumption on Tuesday of work to build a new military facility in Okinawa Prefecture to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station there.

"I think apologies to people in China and the Korean Peninsula, which Japan invaded and colonized, should be made first," added Saotome, who also works as a novelist.

"I felt (Abe's visit) was like a ceremony, themed 'reconciliation without apology,' jointly organized by Japan and the United States," said Seiichiro Kuboshima, the 75-year-old director of a gallery that collects artworks by students who died in war, in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan[Mugonkan or Silent Museum]

"The fundamental contradiction of avoiding an apology led to words with no power," Kuboshima said, referring to Abe's Pearl Harbor speech.

"Japan could join a war for the United States," he warned. Abe "lacked a humble attitude" after Japan made the mistake of supporting World War II in the past, he added.

Japan reconsiders and reinterprets the Pearl Harbor attack

Noboru Takeshita

And ignores the Prime Minister's upcoming visit

BY MARK SCHREIBER, a Tokyo-based writer

THE JAPAN TIMES, December 24, 2016

In May, U.S. President Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to make a historic visit to Hiroshima, the city that became the birthplace of the age of nuclear warfare. It should come as no surprise that Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is scheduled to make a reciprocal gesture of reconciliation this week, possibly making him the first sitting Japanese prime minister to visit the USS Arizona Memorial.

So far, however, news coverage in Japan has been disappointingly spotty, partly because the story has been eclipsed by the usual year-end roundups, interspersed with breaking news stories: the Osprey crash in Okinawa and resulting blowback; the terrorist incident in Berlin; heavy pollution in Beijing; and President-elect Donald Trump’s latest tweet.

In December, the January 2017 issue of prestigious monthly magazine Bungei Shunju was released with a 13-page essay by history critic Masayasu Hosaka titled “Pearl Harbor: The true nature of the blunder.” Though written long before the announcement of Abe’s upcoming visit, it nonetheless provides some scholarly insights into how Japanese reacted to news of the attack 75 years ago.

At 7 a.m., on Monday, Dec. 8, 1941, a young NHK announcer named Morio Tateno told radio listeners, “The Naval department of Imperial headquarters announced that at 6 a.m. today the Imperial Navy, during predawn hours, initiated hostilities with the British and American navies in the Western Pacific.”

On the night of Dec. 8, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo invited the heads of the army and navy to celebrate with a Chinese-style repast at the prime minister’s residence, during which he effused over the “better than anticipated results” of the attack and expressed anticipation of President Franklin Roosevelt’s imminent downfall. Extra editions of newspapers were passed out to pedestrians on the streets and stirring martial tunes such as “Warship March” emanated from loudspeakers. Company workers at their morning assemblies were exhorted to exclaim “banzai” cheers. Stock prices on the Tokyo exchange shot up by 10 percent.

As Hosaka observes in Bungei Shunju, “The exhilaration over the successful attack on Pearl Harbor was the beginning of what was to become a stream of glorified lies on the progression of the war.”

But, unlike Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, who went to war with the specific goal of recovering their former empires’ lost territories, Japan had no clearly defined purpose for initiating hostilities.

“Having gone to war with vague goals,” he wrote, “Japan had no means of determining how to bring the war to an end. Even after Tojo’s Cabinet fell, it could not speedily halt the war.”

This year, several magazines chose to run articles about Pearl Harbor with strongly revisionist slants. The January issue of conservative monthly Rekishi-tu featured two, one that accused the wily President Roosevelt of “maneuvering” Japan into attacking the U.S., and another maintaining U.S. intelligence had broken the Japanese naval code before Pearl Harbor and, therefore, had advance knowledge of the attack. The January issue of Shincho 45 magazine ran an article that claimed British leader Winston Churchill knew of the Japanese plans but chose not to inform the Americans. Move on folks, nothing new here.

In a live telephone interview on New York’s WABC Radio, Tokyo-based American entertainer Dave Spector remarked, “In America, it’s ‘Remember Pearl Harbor.’ In Japan it’s more like ‘Forget Pearl Harbor.’ “

Nonetheless, in a poll of 959 people conducted earlier this month by NHK, 34 percent of respondents said they “strongly approve” of Abe’s visit, with another 48 percent giving their qualified approval. Only 3 percent voiced completely negative opinions.

On the other hand, Sunday Mainichi (Dec. 25) opined, perhaps Abe’s not the right person to go there. After all, over the past several years it has been the Emperor and Empress who traveled to Saipan, Palau and the Philippines to console the war dead. A visitor from the Imperial Family would carry more weight than a prime minister and, Abe’s good intentions notwithstanding, it’s unlikely his visit will erase the lingering U.S. sentiment that the attack on Pearl Harbor was a “cowardly act.”

Contradicting most news reports, meanwhile, it appears that Abe might not necessarily be the first sitting Japanese prime minister to visit the USS Arizona Memorial after all. Shukan Post (Jan. 1-6) claims the former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita also went there in June 1988, during his tenure as Japan’s leader.

Takeshita, while traveling aboard a government-chartered Japan Airlines DC-10, stopped in Hawaii on the return leg of a summit meeting in Toronto. The magazine’s check of airport flight records notes that Takeshita’s aircraft first flew from Toronto via Chicago to the island of Maui on June 24, for a two-night stay. At 8 a.m. on June 26, he flew to Oahu, and returned to Tokyo’s Haneda at 6:23 p.m.

Allowing for a flight of 30 minutes from Maui to Oahu, and the seven to eight hours flying time between Honolulu and Haneda, Takeshita would have had a stopover of from one to two hours in Oahu. No records exist, however, of his having gone to Pearl Harbor.

“While no record of such a visit exists, there have been cases where visitors do not go through military channels,” Daniel Martinez, chief historian at the USS Arizona Memorial, explained to Shukan Post.

A member of Takeshita’s entourage says that the prime minister slipped away to Pearl Harbor while the others in his entourage went golfing, so only a few Diet members could have accompanied him. Efforts to identify other eyewitnesses were inconclusive, but the story’s source emphasized, “I’ve only been to the Arizona memorial once, so my recollection couldn’t possibly be wrong.”

The Dec. 24 Tokyo Shimbun can claim bragging rights for nick-of-time historical research. It has discovered that two other prime ministers, Ichiro Hatoyama and Nobusuke Kishi, also visited Pearl Harbor during their tenures, in 1956 and 1957 respectively. The Hawaii Hochi newspaper covered the events.

War Carnage in the Philippines

Everyone remembers the attack on Pearl Harbor. What we endured in the Far East was no less tragic, but almost unforgivable.

By LESTER TENNEY
Wall Street Journal Online, December 7, 2016

Dec. 8 was my Pearl Harbor. Barely nine hours after the Japanese destroyed most of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, they began their invasion of the Philippines. My tank battalion, stationed at Fort Stotsenburg in the Philippines, was just as surprised and no more prepared for war than the crews of the battleships sunk earlier that day.

The catastrophe of Pearl Harbor still overshadows the embarrassing defeat inflicted on American forces in the Philippines. Whereas Japan attacked Hawaii for 90 minutes and never returned, the battles in the defense of the Philippines continued for five months, followed by widespread guerrilla warfare and the nightmarish internment of combatants and civilians. This culminated in a ferocious American campaign starting in October 1944 to retake the Islands.

By midmorning on Dec. 8, Imperial Army bombers attacked two U.S. bases on Luzon, Tuguegarao Field and the Baguio headquarters of the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East. Shortly after noon, Japan’s Imperial Navy bombers and fighters attacked Clark Field and Iba Field. My 192nd Tank Battalion was waiting for them at Clark Field.

We sat in our tanks surrounding the airfield and prepared to defend it from a ground attack, which never came. The antiaircraft guns of the 200th Coast Artillery fired too low to be effective. Their 1932 vintage ammunition and corroded fuses made the guns unreliable. Maybe one of every six shells actually exploded.

We watched as the first flights of Japanese bombers blew apart Clark’s hangars, barracks and warehouses. Our planes were on the field, fueled, ammunition loaded, and lined up wingtip-to-wingtip as the pilots and crew had lunch. These were torn apart not just by the waves of bombers but also by low-flying Mitsubishi Zeros. More than 100 planes were lost, and the human casualties amounted to 55 killed and more than 100 wounded.

When combined with the other losses on that one day of war, the U.S. Far East Air Force was eliminated as an effective fighting force. And with it disappeared the ability to conduct a realistic defense of the Philippines.

I was literally fresh off the boat. My tank battalion had left San Francisco on Oct. 27 aboard the USAT Hugh L. Scott. We arrived in Manila on Nov. 20—Thanksgiving Day. I remember my feast of hot dogs, while the officers had turkey at their club.

The 192nd battalion had boarded the troopship with little to no training. We were 588 men, nearly all activated National Guard, from Maywood, Ill., Fort Knox, Ky., Clinton, Ohio, and Janesville, Wis. For a few weeks in September and October, we practiced tank warfare with broomsticks for guns, markers for heavy tanks and a handful of 1930s vintage tanks.

Never once did we practice on the 108 light tanks that were sent with us to the Philippines. Thus during Japan’s raid on Clark Field, our cannons were silent. Amid the chaos, we desperately searched for the shells. We found them as the last Japanese bomb fell that day: They were under the radio operator’s seat, my seat.

Throughout Asia on Dec. 8, American and Allied soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines all found themselves at the mercy of Imperial Japan. It is forgotten that the Japanese also descended on Guam, Wake Island, Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong. At the time, few believed that the Japanese would be able to strike so far from home and in so many places.

That day in China, nearly 300 U.S. Marines, sailors, and diplomats became the first American prisoners of war. In the following weeks and months, American soldiers and civilians throughout Japan’s newly occupied territories became POWs. They all endured more than three years of confinement in squalid camps or slave labor at such places as the Thai-Burma death railroad.

For me, my battalion soon met advancing Japanese tanks and infantry as we covered the withdrawal of American and Filipino forces into the Bataan Peninsula. We held on for four months fighting with dwindling food, medicine and materiel. Promised reinforcements from the U.S. never came. Fearing a bloodbath, our commanders surrendered us on April 9, 1942.

What followed was maybe worse: the Bataan Death March. Then prison camps with little food, minimal shelter, rampant disease, and sociopathic guards; “hell ships” to Japan where men suffocated or lost their mind in the noxious dark; and slave labor at POW camps in Japan, Formosa, Korea, and China.

Every day I am asked if I have forgiven the Japanese for their brutal treatment of me as a prisoner. I lost more friends to abuse and starvation as POWs than from combat. More prisoners died on “hell ships” than Marines in the Pacific.

I have forgiven, as at 96 I do not want to live with all the hate. But it is just as hard to forgive the short-sightedness of the commanders who put us in harm’s way on Dec. 7 and 8.

Mr. Tenney was a member of the 192nd Tank Battalion, Company B, that defended the Philippines in World War II. He lives in San Diego.

Pearl Harbor Rememberance Day - 74th Anniversary

VIEW REMEMBRANCE EVENTS

Presidential Proclamation - National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, 2015

NATIONAL PEARL HARBOR REMEMBRANCE DAY, 2015

- - - - - - -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Nearly seven and a half decades ago, as dawn broke over the island of Oahu, bombs broke through the sky as Japanese forces launched an unprovoked attack on our Nation -- absorbing America into a conflict that would change the course of human dignity and freedom. More than 2,400 precious lives and much of our Pacific Fleet were lost, yet the ensuing unification of our people proved mightier than the attack that aimed to weaken us. On National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we pay tribute to the men, women, and children -- military and civilian -- who lost their lives on December 7, 1941, honor all who served in the wake of that infamous day, and recognize the sacrifices today's service members make to carry forward the inextinguishable torch of liberty for generations to come.

Reacting to the surprise attack, patriots from every corner of our country answered the call to serve and banded together in common cause. Sixteen million Americans left behind everything they knew and everyone they loved to fight for freedom far from home and liberate a continent from the grip of tyranny. Courageous individuals from all walks of life crossed oceans and stormed beaches, uplifting a generation and paving the way for our fiercest adversaries to become some of our closest allies. In the example of those who came forth in the months and years following the attack on Pearl Harbor, we see an enduring truth: that no challenge is too great when we stand as one people committed to the ideals which the stars and stripes symbolize.

Seventy-four years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, we endure as a Nation dedicated to affirming the inherent dignity of every person -- even in the face of unspeakable violence. As President Franklin D. Roosevelt said the day after the attack, "the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory." On this day, let us honor the memory of all who gave their lives so that President Roosevelt's words could be realized, and let us resolve to uphold the legacy of our country, for which generations of brave men and women have fought and sacrificed.

The Congress, by Public Law 103-308, as amended, has designated December 7 of each year as "National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim December 7, 2015, as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. I encourage all Americans to observe this solemn day of remembrance and to honor our military, past and present, with appropriate ceremonies and activities. I urge all Federal agencies and interested organizations, groups, and individuals to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff this December 7 in honor of those American patriots who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand fifteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortieth.

American POWs speak truth to Japan and the Speaker of the US House of Representatives

Statement for the Record

to the

Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and House Veterans' Affairs Committee Joint Hearing

 To Receive Legislative Presentations of 

Veterans Service Organizations

 

By

 

Ms. Jan Thompson

 

President, American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society

[Daughter of PhM2 Robert E. Thompson USN, USS Canopus, 

Corregidor, Bilibid & Mukden, POW# 2011]

18 March 2015

American Prisoners of War of Japan

Honoring the Memory of World War II 

Veterans of the Pacific

Chairmen Isakson and Miller, Ranking Members Blumenthal and Brown, Members of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees, thank you for allowing us to present the unique concerns of veterans of World War II’s Pacific Theater to Congress. The American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society (ADBC-MS) represents surviving POWs of Japan, their families, and descendants. Our goal is to preserve their history and communicate the enduring spirit of the American POW experience in the Pacific to future generations.

We applaud the efforts of all the veterans’ service organizations to fight for adequate medical care and disability benefits. Moreover, the incidence and intensity of post-traumatic stress for American POWs of Japan is believed to be the greatest of any World War II veteran and possibly of any American war. These veterans had to survive the sordid POW camps, unimaginable and capricious torture, “hell ships” to Japan or its colonies, and years of brutal imprisonment and slave labor.  Upon returning from the Pacific War, they found a government reluctant to recognize and treat the mental and physical effects that were consequences of the deprivations suffered while POWs of Japan.

At the time, PTSD was not yet a medical category and VA doctors limited the POWs’ access to disability benefits by dismissing the after-effects of years of abuse, disease, and malnutrition. That should not happen to any veteran, and thus, we strongly support the legislative goals of our fellow veterans service organizations to ensure medical and mental health care, as well as to expedite disability claims, to provide rehabilitation, and to establish job-training programs for all American veterans. The American POWs of Japan and their families know intimately the difficulty of re-incorporation into civil society with little support.

Our task today, however, is to address another issue of respect and acceptance of returning service men and women. This is to ensure that they are not forgotten. For the American POWs of Japan this means that their unique history and the lessons of their experience with Imperial Japan is preserved. This is an urgent task. In the United States this history is being forgotten, and in Japan it is being revised.

Remembrance, Reconciliation, and Preservation

The ADBC-MS was dismayed in 2012 when none of the 70^th anniversaries of historic battles during the beginning of World War II were officially recognized.  Astonishingly, December 7, 1941, “a date that will live in infamy,” has not been recognized with a Congressional resolution for many years. This year, the 70^th Anniversaries of the daring “Great Raid” that liberated Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines and of the Battle for Manila that freed thousands of American civilian internees and POWs were not acknowledged.

We hope that future Congresses will remember the events that started American involvement in World War II with resolutions memorializing the simultaneous attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines Islands. And we hope that future Congresses will honor those POWs who were massacred by Imperial Japanese forces as American forces advanced to liberate territories once lost. These include the 98 Americans on Wake Island who were bound and machine-gunned to death on October 7, 1943 and the 139 on Palawan Island who were drenched in gasoline and set afire.

The former POWs of Japan leave many legacies and lessons. Among the most important is how they coped with the postwar traumas of inhumane imprisonment. They fought two battles. One was for recognition of their “battle fatigue” and the other for justice and remembrance. The former is now championed by all veterans’ service organizations. We ask Congress for support and to help our veterans in their unique quest for justice and remembrance.

In an interview published 23 January 2014 in The Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s second largest newspaper, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy said:

I want to take a moment to talk about history and reconciliation. This fall, there was an event that previously might have been thought unimaginable. A group of Americans who suffered as Japanese prisoners of war during the Second World War returned here at the invitation of the Japanese government. Participating took enormous amounts of courage for all those involved….It is not easy, but citizens in all countries should encourage and support leaders who reach across history to build a peaceful future. It took courage on the part of the participants to come back to Japan and learn how Japan has changed.

As background to the Ambassador’s words, in 2009 the Government of Japan, through its then-Ambassador to the U.S. Ichiro FUJISAKI, and again in 2010 through its then-Foreign Minister Katsuya OKADA, officially apologized to the American POWs of Japan. These Cabinet-approved apologies first established as a Cabinet Decision on February 6, 2009 were unprecedented. Never before had a Japanese Government apologized for a specific war crime nor had it done so directly to the victims. The Japanese Government further initiated the “Japan/POW Friendship Program” of trips for American former POWs to visit Japan and return to the places of their imprisonment and slave labor. Thus far, there have been five trips, one each in the fall of 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The benefits of this long-awaited act of contrition have been immeasurable for former POWs and their families.  The Program, as Ambassador Kennedy has pointed out, is a great success, but we are concerned about its future. We are concerned that Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo ABE, may revise Japan’s war apologies and end the POW/Japan Friendship Program. We are concerned that Japan has limited each trip to only seven former POWs. We currently have 26 men, all over 90-years old, eager to participate and waiting to hear when or if there will be another journey to Japan. Because of their advanced ages, many of these veterans may miss the opportunity.

We recall that in 1995 the Japanese government established the Peace, Friendship, and Exchange Initiative that included a multi-million dollar program of reconciliation and exchange with former POWs from all allied nations except the United States. From 1995 to 2009, the Japanese Government invited 904 ex-POWs from the United Kingdom, 507 from the Netherlands and 59 from Australia. The budgets allocated for those trips totaled over $16 million. To date, only 31 American former POWs have been invited and the yearly budgets have ranged only from $130,000 to $230,000. One cannot help but get the impression that some in Japan count on time and advancing years to limit the costs and impact of the program. We view this as shortsighted.

Success should encourage more action

The success of this visitation program should encourage Japan to do more. The Program should not end with the ability of the nonagenarian POWs to visit Japan or with their deaths. A POW’s captivity has multi-generational effects on families. The wives, children, and siblings of those who died suffered irreparable loss. The families of those who survived suffered from the long-term physical and mental health problems caused by the ex-POW's years of cruel captivity.  Widows, brothers, sisters, children, and other descendants have all been profoundly affected by the POW experience of their relative and they too should be eligible for future programs.

We ask Congress to encourage the Government of Japan to preserve, expand, and enhance its reconciliation program toward its American former prisoners. We want to see the trips to Japan continued and extended to include descendants and researchers. We want the visitation program drawn into a permanent program of research, documentation, reconciliation, and a people-to-people exchange that is not subject to the Japanese government’s yearly budget review. We want Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to publicize the program and its achievements. 

We want this program to include funds to create visual reminders of history through museums and monuments.  We want national memorials to the POWs who slaved and died on Japanese soil and territories as well as aboard the “hell ships.” We want to see a Japanese government-funded memorial at the Port of Moji where most of the hell ships docked and unloaded their sick and dying “cargo.”

We also want the many companies that brutally used POWs as slave labor and who now profit in the American market, to join with their government by acknowledging their use of forced labor and by offering their own acts of reconciliation. Over 60 Japanese companies, such as Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Hitachi, Toshiba, Kawasaki, Nippon Steel, Nippon Express, Nippon Sharyo, Ube Industries, Showa Denko, Aso Group, and Yawata Steel maintained war production by cruel exploitation of American and Allied POWs.

Prime Minister Shinzo ABE and his address to Congress

Prime Minister Shinzo ABE, who we understand may soon address a joint meeting of Congress, has a unique opportunity to acknowledge Japan’s historical responsibilities. His past statements rejecting the verdicts of Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal that serves as the foundation of the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan trouble us. We want Congress to only extend the invitation to Prime Minister Abe to speak at the podium of Roosevelt and Churchill if they are assured that he will acknowledge that Japan’s defeat released the country from the venom of fascism and the inhuman goals of a criminal regime.

By doing so, the Japanese prime minister’s speech to Congress can be a historic one of reconciliation of which the first step is acknowledgement. Tied to this, we feel, should be that he extends and enhances the POW visitation program as we have outlined. He can engender trust with his American allies by honoring their country’s veterans. Here he can signal to Japan’s other wartime victims that meaningful reconciliation, as Ambassador Kennedy pointed out, is possible. The POW/Japan Friendship Program is one that confronts the past while preserving the dignities of both Americans and Japanese.

It is our hope in addressing this hearing that we can encourage Congress to work with the Obama Administration and the State Department to persuade Japan to hold to its promises and responsibilities. Japan needs to be encouraged to do more.  And it is our hope that members of Congress will encourage the many Japanese corporations that operate in their districts to acknowledge the history of the American POWs who slaved for them.

The American POWs of Japan and their families have paid a high price for the freedoms we cherish. What they ask in return for their sacrifices and service is for their government, even after 70 years, is to keep its moral obligation to them. They do not want their history ignored or exploited. They do not ask for further compensation. What they want most is to have their government stand by them to ensure they will be remembered, that our allies respect them, and their American history preserved.

Thank you for this opportunity to address your committees.

Ms. Jan Thompson
President
American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor Memorial Society

[Ms. Thompson is a documentary filmmaker. Her recent work is Never the Same: the POW Experience]

Remembering Pearl Harbor

After a long absence from both President Bush's and Obama's Pearl Harbor Day proclamations, "Japan" is back in the text. Now Japan is identified as the nation that attacked Pearl Harbor and other American Pacific territories on December 7, 1941. American forgiveness simply emboldened Japan's deniers. Now we wonder how many, if any, American legislators will too remember this day in infamy.

For Immediate Release
December 05, 2014

Presidential Proclamation -- National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, 2014

NATIONAL PEARL HARBOR REMEMBRANCE DAY, 2014 

- - - - - - - 

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

A PROCLAMATION 

On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese planes thundered over Hawaii, dropping bombs in an unprovoked act of war against the United States.The attack claimed the lives of more than 2,400 Americans.It nearly destroyed our Pacific Fleet, but it could not shake our resolve.While battleships smoldered in the harbor, patriots from across our country enlisted in our Armed Forces, volunteering to take up the fight for freedom and security for which their brothers and sisters made the ultimate sacrifice.On National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we pay tribute to the souls lost 73 years ago, we salute those who responded with strength and courage in service of our Nation, and we renew our dedication to the ideals for which they so valiantly fought.

In the face of great tragedy at Pearl Harbor -- our first battle of the Second World War -- our Union rallied together, driven by the resilient and unyielding American spirit that defines us.The millions of Americans who signed up and shipped out inspired our Nation and put us on the path to victory in the fight against injustice and oppression around the globe.As they stormed the beaches of Normandy and planted our flag in the sands of Iwo Jima, our brave service members rolled back the tide of tyranny in Europe and throughout the Pacific theater.Because of their actions, nations that once knew only the blinders of fear saw the dawn of liberty.

The men and women of the Greatest Generation went to war and braved hardships to make the world safer, freer, and more just.As we reflect on the lives lost at Pearl Harbor, we remember why America gave so much for the survival of liberty in the war that followed that infamous day.Today, with solemn gratitude, we recall the sacrifice of all who served during World War II, especially those who gave their last full measure of devotion and the families they left behind.As proud heirs to the freedom and progress secured by those who came before us, we pledge to uphold their legacy and honor their memory.

The Congress, by Public Law 103-308, as amended, has designated December 7 of each year as "National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim December 7, 2014, as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.I encourage all Americans to observe this solemn day of remembrance and to honor our military, past and present, with appropriate ceremonies and activities.I urge all Federal agencies and interested organizations, groups, and individuals to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff this December 7 in honor of those American patriots who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-ninth. 

BARACK OBAMA

Insult to injury

On Wednesday, October 30^th, Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner dedicated a bust of Winston Churchill in the rotunda ofthe Capitol. You can watch there ceremony above.

This is the result of a resolution he pushed through Congress in December 2011. Whereas Speaker Boehner did not allow any resolution to go forward to honor the 70^th anniversary of Japan's surprise attack of Pearl Harbor nor did he issue his own statement of remembrance, he did honor Churchill’s Pearl Harbor December 26, 1941 speech to a Joint Session of Congress.

British Prime Minister Churchill was in the US to guarantee the Europe-first strategy that he had planned with President Franklin Roosevelt would be followed. The result was that thousands of American civilians and servicemen and women in the Pacific were abandoned to horrific fates. No reinforcements would come to the Marines of Wake Island, the tank brigades on Bataan, or the Coastal Artillery on Corregidor.

Boehner's tax-payer funded effort to honor Churchill was further an undisguised dig at President Barak Obama. The Speaker and many Republicans believe that the President returned a bust of Churchill in the Oval Office out of disrespect (code for not honoring the "white" Churchill). The truth is that there were two busts of Churchill in the West Wing; one was on loan from the British Government. This one was returned. No American hero was represented twice in the president's offices.

One can imagine that Churchill himself would have been taken aback by Boehner's unprincipled swipe at an American president. And for Americans, it is astounding that the Speaker should go so far to ignore citizens put in harms way, especially WWII veterans, for a racist fable about the President's character. 

Torpedoing Pearl Harbor Day

Churchill Mug

This essay by your editor first appeared 12/07/12 in The Hill, a newspaper and website focused on issues affecting Capitol Hill.



Last year, Congress stopped remembering Pearl Harbor. For nearly 50 years, the U.S. Congress had honored the survivors and fallen of Imperial Japan’s deadly attack through a resolution either asking the President to issue a proclamation designating December 7 as Pearl Harbor Day or issuing their own recognition of when the United States was pushed into World War II. This ended in 2011. America’s Greatest Generation was pushed aside to make a petty swipe at the White House about a surplus bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

A House rules change in 2011 did away with commemorative resolutions. As a staffer from the House Speaker John Boehner’s office told me, a Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day resolution would be “frivolous.” The House Republican leadership of the 112th Congress had adopted new rules barring consideration of any measure that “expresses appreciation, commends, congratulates, celebrates, recognizes the accomplishments of, or celebrates the anniversary of, an entity, event, group, individual, institution, team or government program; or acknowledges or recognizes a period of time for such purposes” (Rule #28).



Speaker Boehner did not completely ignore December 1941 last year, however. That month served as the occasion to taunt the White House over a bust of Winston Churchill. He and many Republicans were upset that the President had returned this loaned presentation of Britain’s wartime prime minister to the British Embassy

.

On December 19, 2011, House Speaker Boehner allowed a resolution to pass that recognized the accomplishments of former Prime Minister Churchill. Boehner introduced H.Res. 497 commemorating the 70th anniversary of Churchill’s “The Masters of Our Fate” speech on December 26, 1941 before Congress, in which he urged Americans, barely two weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor to pursue the war first in Europe and not Asia. The resolution also requested the placement of a statue or bust of Sir Winston Churchill in the United States Capitol. 



No one regrets our efforts in Europe during the war, but Americans then fighting the first battles on the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, and Java may have been somewhat circumspect about Churchill’s successful Europe-first lobbying. After Pearl Harbor, for four months through April 9, 1942, soldiers on Bataan tied up a better trained and equipped Japanese invasion force. On Wake Island, from December 8 to 22, 1941, less than 400 Marines held off a Japanese armada and amphibious assault. The soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines in the Pacific were abandoned and never resupplied. They were thus condemned to hopeless battles with obsolete weapons and no provisions ending in death or over three years of unmerciful imprisonment in Japan’s notorious POW camps.



Naturally, any political and military decisions in 1941 would have had good consequences for some Americans and bad results for others. But, 70 years later, a decision to commemorate a speech of a foreign head of state coupled with an explicit decision not to commemorate American veterans in one of the critical chapters of WWII is unfathomable.



Sadly, there is no longer a constituency to hold the House leadership responsible for ignoring WWII veterans or their history. The Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-Ohio), who did not issue a personal Pearl Harbor Day statement in 2011, has the power to make exceptions to "Rule 28," but he has no incentive do so. This year the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association disbanded and other Pacific War veterans are considered too elderly to be an active political force.



In fairness, perhaps Speaker Boehner thought that Congress no longer needed to weigh on remembering Pearl Harbor. This was the president’s job. In 1994, Congress made permanent a tradition started in 1966 and passed Public Law 103-308) designating December 7th as "National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day." It authorized and requested the President to: 1) issue an annual proclamation calling on U.S. citizens to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities; and 2) urge all Federal agencies, interested organizations, groups, and individuals to fly the U.S. flag at half-staff in honor of those who gave their lives as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor. 



President Barak Obama, fulfilled his obligation 2011 by saying: “On National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we honor the more than 3,500 Americans killed or wounded during that deadly attack and pay tribute to the heroes whose courage ensured our Nation would recover from this vicious blow. Their tenacity helped define the Greatest Generation and their valor fortified all who served during World War II. As a Nation, we look to December 7, 1941, to draw strength from the example set by these patriots and to honor all who have sacrificed for our freedoms.” He followed his words with a quiet visit on December 29th to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.”



This year Congress is again silent on December 7. It is unfortunate that our veterans were ignored to make an irrelevant point about whether a foreign leader’s bust should on display in the Oval Office. Resolutions honoring WWII veterans transcend politics. They provide these men and women with a national gesture of eternal appreciation for their sacrifices and valor on Pearl Harbor day and the nearly four years thereafter fighting tyranny. They remind us of the greatness of American leadership. Failure to do so sends a troubling message to present and future veterans on how they too will be forgotten.

The Elections and the POWs/MIAs

If you have wondered about where the various candidates for national office stand on issues affecting the American POWs/MIAs of Japan, HERE is a list of legislation that is related to issues affecting the history and memory of those involved in WWII in the Pacific. You can thus see for yourself how your incumbent member of congress voted or the legislation he/she was willing to co-sponsor. By clicking on the highlighted bill number, you can find all the details of the legislation including who are its co-sponsors.

For those who do not think they will go out and vote, HERE is some inspiration from several former POWs of Japan, who have a special appreciation of the American freedom to vote.

Overall, the record is pretty grim. The 112th Congress (a Congress is every two years) appears to have lost its memory. For the first time, Congress did not pass a resolution honoring the memory of the fallen at Pearl Harbor. This was particular disappointing as last December was the 70th Anniversary. You can find the President’s Proclamation HERE.

The award of a collective gold medal to the first African Americans of the Marine Corps known during WWII as the Montford Point Marines was achieved only by a roll call vote. This means every member had to put him/herself on the record. Overall there has been legislation introduced honoring those of America’s greatest generation, but few members of congress have been willing to support it and almost none of the legislation has gotten out of committee for a floor vote.

Some experts believe this is because there are few veterans now in Congress. In the House of Representatives there are only 92 veterans. The simple fact is that veterans no longer represent a large voting group. To ignore their issues consequently holds no political risk.

In regard to the presidential race, it should be noted that President Obama was the first president and first administration to ask (and insist) the Japanese to honor the memory of the American POWs of Japan. The President’s grandfather was a WWII vet. Governor Romney has not said anything about the POWs. Neither he nor any of his five sons are veterans. His running mate, Paul Ryan, hails from Janesville, Wisconsin that is home of the Janesville 99. This group of activated National Guardsmen fought on Bataan and suffered the Bataan Death March. Less than half of men returned home.

Neither Romney nor Ryan issued a Pearl Harbor Day statement. It should be noted that those mentioned as advising candidate Romney on Japan are the same people in the Bush II Administration who actively blocked compensation for the POWs of Japan as well as a joint Congressional commemorative statement for the 60th anniversary of the end of Pacific War.

In pulling together the data for the above, I decided to see, as an example, how the incumbent congressional candidate for my newly redrawn home district in upstate New York Chris Gibson (R-NY-20, redrawn as the 19th) voted.

I found that although one of the few decorated Iraq war veterans in Congress, he has supported Republican vice presidential candidate Rep Paul Ryan’s budget that cuts benefits and jobs programs for veterans. The same budget reduces funds for diplomatic security, putting veterans in harm’s way, as we have seen with the deaths of former Navy Seals in Libya. Even when dollars are not involved, he ignores the history of those soldiers who came before him, especially from America’s “greatest generation.”

He, as many, loyally followed the House Republican leadership’s refusal to consider commemorative bills. Thus, for the first time in history, on December 7, 2011, Congress did not pass a resolution recognizing Pearl Harbor and its seminal moment in American history. Gibson, a retired Army colonel, was not even a co-sponsor of the bi-partisan H.CON.RES.89 introduced to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor.

However, ten days later, he allowed Speaker of the House John Boehner to ram through H. RES. 497 honoring British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for his December 26, 1941 Pearl Harbor speech to Congress urging Americans to pursue the war first in Europe. The resolution even requested taxpayer money to place this foreign leader’s bust in the Capitol Rotunda.

Americans then fighting the first battles of WWII in the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, and Java are less sanguine about Churchill’s successful Washington lobbying for a Europe-first strategy. The abandoned soldiers, sailors and Marines in the Pacific were condemned by this policy to hopeless battles ending in death or over three years of imprisonment in Japan’s notorious POW camps.

Colonel Gibson has also failed to support resolution, H. RES. 333, honoring those men who survived the torture, abuse, and slave labor as POWs of Japan. Nor did he co-sponsor H.RES.636 to designate April 9, 2012 to May 6, 2012, as “Bataan-Corregidor Month” recognizing one of the most historic battles of American history. And he did not stand up for H.R.3712 awarding a gold medal to those who defended Bataan in the first months of WWII. Although an Army Ranger, he also did not appear at any event held on Capitol Hill this April for the 70th Anniversary Commemoration of the Defense of the Philippines with survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March and Battle of Corregidor.

He is among the 204 co-sponsors of H.R.719 to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the World War II members of the Civil Air Patrol. However, he was not among the 308 (out of 435) members who cosponsored H.R.2447 to grant the congressional gold medal to the first African Americans of the Marine Corps known during WWII as the Montford Point Marines. He did carefully vote "yea" on the bill in an unusual roll call vote—bills with so many cosponsors rarely face a roll call and are passed by unanimous consent.

An official, black and white MIA/POW flag stands beside the door of Congressman Gibson’s Washington office. However, on National POW/MIA Recognition Day, September 21, Gibson, like many of his colleagues, did not issue so much as a Tweet acknowledging the day’s significance. By ignoring yesterday’s veterans, Congressmen like Chris Gibson send a discouraging message to today’s veterans. Congress is missing in action for their interests.

Pearl Harbor Passing

On December 29th, President and Mrs. Barak Obama quietly visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Stuck in Washington trying to pass a  budget, he could not make it to Hawaii for the December 7th 70th Anniversary of Imperial Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. He made it his duty to be there soon after Christmas and before the New Year.

"Quietly" best characterizes how Obama promotes his historic work helping and memorializing the veterans of the Pacific. He has done more than any president before him. In 2010, he asked the Government of Japan to respect the sacrifices the American POWs of Japan made for peace in the Pacific. He succeeded in persuading Tokyo to formally and officially apologize to the American POWs and to establish a visitation program to Japan for former POWs and their families. He knows his work is not done and his Administration continues to press upon Japan for more.

He is the first president ever to advocate for the American POWs of Japan. He is also the first not to have his administration work actively to kill congressional legislation supporting the POW efforts for justice. The Bush II White House was so adamant about protecting their Japanese allies that they insisted on changes to a congressional resolution commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War that both Republican and Democratic Senators found so offensive that they refused to consider the joint resolution. Thus, only the House passed the resolution and there was no "joint" congressional statement/resolution.

Back to Pearl Harbor, Obama's eloquent Presidential Proclamation on National Pearl Harbor Day (issued on the 6th so that it would make the morning papers in Japan on the 7th) contrasts to the astounding silence from both the Republican House of Representatives and presidential candidates.

For the first time in probably over 50 years the U.S. Congress did not issue its annual "concurrent" resolution honoring the dead of Pearl Harbor Day. We could not confirm when the first resolution commemorating Pearl Harbor Day was issued. It is generally assumed that it was during the Kennedy Administration as according to historian Emily Rosenberg, the author of The Date That Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory, the anniversary was downplayed until then.

With only 59 hard-fought co-sponsors, H.CON.RES. 89, "Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day," languishes in the House of Representatives. It has not even been called up before a Committee. As a "concurrent" resolution it must first pass the House before it is considered by the Senate. On approval by both the House of Representatives and Senate, they are signed by the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate. They are not presented to the President for action.

It is unlikely that this bill will ever be voted upon. The House Republican leadership of the 112th Congress adopted new rules barring consideration of any measure that “expresses appreciation, commends, congratulates, celebrates, recognizes the accomplishments of, or celebrates the anniversary of, an entity, event, group, individual, institution, team or government program; or acknowledges or recognizes a period of time for such purposes” (Rule #28). There have been exceptions, most notably reaffirming "In God We Trust" as the U.S. moto and H.RES. 376, "Calling for the repatriation of POW/MIAs and abductees from the Korean War."

On December 19, House Speaker Boehner did allow another resolution to pass--his own. His H.Res. 497 honors Sir Winston Churchill, commemorates the 70th anniversary of his “The Masters of Our Fate” speech before Congress, and provides for the placement of a statue or bust of Sir Winston Churchill in the United States Capitol. Mr. Boehner's resolution not only honors and commemorates, he also asks for taxpayer money to be spent.

World War II and its veterans are passing. Neither H.Con.Res. 89 nor H.Res. 333 (for the American POWs of Japan) are likely to pass the House. There is no longer a constituency that will hold the House leadership responsible for ignoring WWII veterans or their vital history. The Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH), who did not issue a Pearl Harbor Day statement, has the power to make exceptions to "Rule 28," but for now he has no incentive do so (unless you tell him why).

The only Republican presidential candidate to note Pearl Harbor day was Representative Michele Bachmann and that was only through a tweet: "Please remember the victims of the #PearlHarbor attacks. The "date of infamy" that forever changed America happened 70 years ago today." In the entire Congress, House and Senate (535  members), only 70 members issued statements.

More amazing, only 30 (43%) of these statements mentioned Japan. There is no recognition as to whom was responsible for sinking most of the U.S. Pacific Fleet or why. Only that this act somehow brought Americans together.


The exact breakdown is as follows:

Senate Statements: 20 (11 Democrats, 9 Republicans) 20% of Senate
Tweets but not Statements: 0
Floor: 6 (4 Democrats, 2 Republicans)
Mention Japan: 8 (4 Democrats, 4 Republicans)
In Congressional Record: 6 (4 Democrats, 2 Republicans)

House Statements: 50 (12 Democrats, 38 Republicans) 11% of House
Tweets but not Statements: 9 (3 Democrats, 6 Republicans)
Floor: 3 (2 Democrats,1 Republican)
Mention Japan: 22 (3 Democrats, 19 Republicans)
In Congressional Record: 3 (2 Democrats,1 Republican)

We have collected all the statements and would be happy to share them with you. Simply email us and we will send you our research report.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

President Obama's Proclamation (excerpt)

     In the wake of the bombing of our harbor and the crippling of our Pacific Fleet, there were those who declared the United States had been reduced to a third-class power. But rather than break the spirit of our Nation, the attack brought Americans together and fortified our resolve. Patriots across our country answered the call to defend our way of life at home and abroad. They crossed oceans and stormed beaches, freeing millions from the grip of tyranny and proving that our military is the greatest force for liberty and security the world has ever known. On the home front, dedicated civilians supported the war effort by repairing wrecked battleships, working in factories, and joining civilian defense organizations to help with salvage programs and plant Victory gardens. At this time of great strife, we reminded the world there is no challenge we cannot meet; there is no challenge we cannot overcome.

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (excerpt)

For Americans, December 7, 1941 will forever be ‘a date which will live in infamy.’ Our entire nation mobilized to assist the ensuing war effort. From war bonds to building our fighter aircraft, the country was united and the ‘greatest generation’ defeated forces of evil and successfully defended freedom and democracy.

Our American forbearers were brave and strong in the face of adversity. But the larger lesson of Pearl Harbor is that we need to remain steadfast and forthright in our defense of liberty and human rights. Brutal regimes and lawless nations should not be coddled or appeased.

70th Anniversary of the Pearl Harbor Attack Website

National Museum of the Pacific War

National World War II Museum

American Defenders of the Philippines Museum

JAPANESE DIPLOMACY AND MILITARY MANEUVERING PRIOR TO THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR. 12/5, 12:30-1:45, Washington, DC. Sponsor: Sigur Center, GWU. Speaker: Takeo Iguchi, Former Ambassador; Professor Emeritus, Shobi-Gakuen University.

THE CAPTAIN ELLIS ZACHARIAS AND PEARL HARBOR ATTACK. 11:00am, Washington, DC. Sponsor: National Archives. Speaker: David Pfeiffer, archivist; discusses the intelligence officer featured in his article “Sage Prophet or Loose Cannon?” published in Prologue magazine. (The lecture will be repeated at the National Archives at College Park, MD.

FREEDOM BETRAYED: HERBERT HOOVER'S SECRET HISTORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH. 12/6, Noon-1:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: Heritage Foundation. Speakers: George Nash, author, historian, book offers a revisionist reexamination of the war and its Cold War aftermath and a sweeping indictment of the “lost statesmanship” of Franklin Roosevelt.

PEARL HARBOR CHRISTMAS: A WORLD AT WAR, DECEMBER 1941. 12/7, Noon-3:00pm, Washington, DC. Author and historian Stanley Weintraub will present his latest work– an exploration of the wartime strategies that were developed in Washington while the rest of America attempted to celebrate the holiday season. Each chapter, written in pristine detail, coincides with the last ten days of 1941 and the first day of the New Year. Following the presentation, Weintraub will be available for a Q&A and book signing. 

1:00pm - Guests are invited for a subsequent wreath laying ceremony with the U.S. Navy Band and Ceremonial Guard on the Memorial’s outdoor plaza.

2:00pm - In addition, the Navy Memorial welcomes local veteran survivors and witnesses of the attack for a panel discussion led by noted historian Paul Stillwell, author of Air Raid: Pearl Harbor! Recollections of a Day of Infamy. Panel members will include former U.S. Navy Memorial President and CEO Rear Admiral Edward K. Walker USN (Ret), who witnessed the battle as the young son of a submarine officer stationed at Pearl Harbor.

PACIFIC GIBRALTAR: US-JAPANESE RIVALRY OVER THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII 1885-1889. 12/7, Noon-1:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: National Archive. Speakers: William Michael Morgan, author, discusses his book Pacific Gibraltar and the results of the Japan–U.S. crisis of 1897, when the Japanese sent warships to Honolulu to oppose the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands by the United States during the Spanish-American War. As Japan began pushing for voting rights for its nationals living and working on the islands, tensions rose between the two countries. A book signing will follow the program.

IN THE LAST GOOD WAR: THE FACES AND VOICES OF WORLD WAR II. 12/7, Noon–1:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: National Portrait Gallery. Speaker: Thomas Sanders combines imagery and narrative to tell the story of the courageous men and women who accomplished extraordinary feats in defense of freedom. This book provides a unique window into American history and the lasting legacy of World War II veterans.

PEARL HARBOR CHRISTMAS.12/7, 6:00–7:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: National Portrait Gallery. Speaker: Stanley Weintraub marks the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor with a talk in the exhibition, followed by a signing of his new book Pearl Harbor Christmas.

“It Is No Joke—It Is a Real War”: HOW AMERICANS FIRST LEARNED OF PEARL HARBOR. 12/7, 7:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: National Archives. Speaker: Marvin Kalb, journalist. uses film, audio, and photographic records from the National Archives and the Newseum to discuss how the media informed Americans of the 1941 attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Fighting for MacArthur, the Navy and Marine Corps' Desperate Defense of the Philippines. 12/15, Noon-1:00pm, Naval War College Museum, Newport, Rhode Island. Author, John Gordon discusses his new book, which is 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 it includes a revealing discussion of the buildup of tensions between Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the Navy that continued for the remainder of the war.