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Including all of the Defense Forces of the Philippine Archipelago, The Asiatic Fleet, Wake Island, Marianna Islands, Midway Island and Dutch East Indies
March 2, 2011
The Honorable
Norman Mineta Dear Secretary Mineta: We are three former POWs of the Japanese who were forced to work for Japanese companies during World War II. Each of us is a past National Commander of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, a nationally recognized veterans’ organization that was disbanded in 2009. We are writing to ask that you advise your Japanese corporate clients to acknowledge and apologize for their use and abuse of American POW forced labor. We read with interest your comment to Kyodo News that appeared in the February 25th Japan Times regarding Japanese corporate responsibility for war crimes. You are quoted as saying, "It seems to me (the companies) probably should apologize, depending on the nature of their involvement and the degree to which it was a prevalent practice….If they did those things, then it's probably the right thing to do." We can tell you that many of the companies that want to bring high-speed rail to the United States used American and Allied POW labor in brutal conditions in violation of the Third Geneva Convention to sustain their war production. And as you can see from the records compiled by the U.S. Army, which have been chronicled in “ALL-JAPAN POW CAMP GROUP HISTORY” http://home.comcast.net/~winjerd/CmpGroup.htm, inhumane treatment of POWs was indeed a prevalent practice among all the Japanese companies that used POWs. We have personal experience with three of these companies. Dr. Tenney mined coal for Mitsui. Mr. Jackfert worked the docks for Nippon Steel. Mr. Levenberg repaired locomotives for Nippon Sharyo. Two of us are survivors of the Bataan Death March. Other companies that used POWs include Toshiba, Showa Denko, Kawasaki, Hitachi, Sumitomo, and Mitsubishi. None of these companies has acknowledged their involvement in POW forced labor, much less apologized for it. That is in stark contrast to German and French bidders for the high-speed rail projects, both of which have not only apologized for their war crimes during WWII but also committed themselves to supporting projects of remembrance and reconciliation. The suffering we endured at the hands of the employees of these companies was comparable to, and sometimes worse than, that inflicted upon us by the Imperial Japanese military. As a result, more than a thousand American POWs (over 3,500 Allied POWs) died on the main islands of Japan alone. Those who survived found themselves with permanent physical or mental damage. Last year, for the first time, the Government of Japan offered its apology and established a program (modeled on a longstanding Japanese program for POWs of other allied nations) for American former prisoners of war of Imperial Japan. What is left is for Japan’s private companies to offer their apology. Further, commitment to this apology can be demonstrated through the establishment of a foundation for the remembrance of the POW experience in the Pacific. We believe that such commitment from these great global corporations can strengthen and affirm the bonds of shared modern values and responsibilities between our two countries. It is for the future. We know you understand more than anyone else the importance of drawing lessons for today and tomorrow out of the past. We are near or at 90 years old. Time is not on our side. Further, we are sure that this issue of Japanese corporate responsibility is of urgent public interest. It is our sincere hope that you will advise these Japanese companies to promptly acknowledge their involvement in wartime forced labor and offer an apology to the American POWs. We are NOT asking for compensation. We ask simply for respect of our life histories and that our sacrifices for peace in Asia remembered. Sincerely,
Dr. Lester
Tenney, ADBC Commander 2008-2009
Mr. Edward
Jackfert, ADBC Commander 1984-1985; 1999- 2000
Mr. Ralph
Levenberg, ADBC Commander 1979-1980
ATTACHMENTS:
Reprieve from Hell by Samuel B. Moody (Book) Sgt Moody was a witness at the Tokyo war crimes trials regarding the Bataan Death March and atrocities at Nippon Sharyo’s plant in Narumi. Interrogation of Paul MacDonald & Maynard C. Meuli, Ref: Narumi POW Camp, Report of Investigation Division, Legal Section, GHQ, SCAP, 10 March 1947.
A bibliography
of many of the books on the POW experience can be found here:
http://home.comcast.net/~winjerd/Biblio01.txt
CC:
Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki
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