Just My Opinion

While our last newsletter was a bit late we are now back on our schedule of four newsletters per year.

We would like to begin this issue by telling the story of our efforts to help the relatives of those who lost their lives in prison camps or aboard the ships taking them to Manchuria, Formosa (Taiwan) and Japan. This has become our primary mission in existing, and our members deserve to know about this project.

We receive as many as twenty requests for information weekly. That there is that much interest out there is most surprising, but the interests really is a desire for closure. It is astonishing how little relatives know about someone lost or missing. To gain any information from our government would take months. Because we have accumulated numerous data, we can research such and usually come up with the information the writer is looking for. When we are unable we, then post a request for information on our web site. This also has been productive.

We find that a large number of those interested know that a relative is listed as MIA, but with a date of death which is somewhat confusing. In such cases, we know that the person involved, generally speaking, was aboard a ship sunk at sea. This is confirmed by the date of a sinking of one of the "Hell-Ships." Others who were buried in O'Donnell often remained unknown and they too are listed as MIA by our government.

Also available to us is information on the cause of death, the date of death, and the place of death. In many cases. Such information is usually found in organizational rosters such as the 31st. Infantry regiment (US). To be able to help provide closure after all these years is a most gratifying experience. Numerous letters of gratitude are on file. Suffice it to say they provide the incentive to help as many others as we possibly can.

We remind all of our readers to try to attend our 60th anniversary of the fall of Bataan - in Manila next year by contacting this editor if you care to go with us. We have big plans for the occasion and a big group is anticipated. At our last reading, we had over 150 interested people. The price of the entire trip is a "good buy" , and we will be happy to have our tour director, Sascha Jensen, a child internee in Santo Tomas, contact you. It will be our farewell visit.

The hospitality of the Filipino people is incredible. When we have gone back in the past, we are always greeted with "Welcome Home," and they mean it. As one of our members so aptly put it, Bataan, O'Donnell, and Manila will always be a part of our lives. So let's close it out in style next year.
(Read the itinerary and costs for the trip.)
 
 

As many of you know the Japanese are avid golfers. However golf courses in Japan are extremely scarce. (One reason they travel so much.). Money to them these days is no object. So, they want to buy up a huge tract of land in which to build a hotel and a golf course in a place called Bataan, "a familiar and sacred spot for all of us." The Japanese Garden for Peace (I love these names they give themselves.), the association of Japanese survivors of the war in the Philippines, wants to develop Bataan Province.  They need two hundred Hectares in Mariveles, Corregidor and Mt. Samat" [editor's note: They already have such a "garden" on Corregidor.] "Bataan is a very memorable place for the survivors..."

It's very memorable for us as well.

Negishi (spokesman for the group) said the war veterans want a place where they and their relatives could contemplate or relax and have fun. They already save such a Place and it is the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Flash! The Japanese have just bought Pearl Harbor! I wonder if their games consists of how many heads can we knock off as we go down the main road.  Just a bit of justifible sarcasm. The Philippines is in dire financial shape and will jump at this offer, of that there is no doubt. In fact, the Japanese group has stated they would invest as much as $200 million in Bataan. Now, if they really want to put the money to good use, my recommendation is for them to compensate their victims. I am realistic enough to know this will never happen. Our politicians will see to that.
(Read the Article from the Philippine Star)

Compensation

While speaking of the Japanese never compensating their victims, we note that another country has faced up to this fact. A major general retired from the Australian army, Peter Philips stated that a trip to Japan convinced him that the Japanese would not be "in the business of paying compensation" to the POWs.  Shortly after, Australia offered to pay about $25,000 to those surviving prisoners of the Japanese. The Australian government recognizes the "extreme deprivations suffered by prisoners of the Japanese. Which was more than those experienced by Australia's other prisoners of war during World War II."

We have pointed out in a previous newsletter that the American Ex-prisoners of War, Inc., has testified before Congress stating they were opposed to such a settlement by the American government unless it includes all those held by Germany who performed labor. (One of the reasons this editor does not belong to that group.) They are a Europe focused group with former Prisoners of the Japanese in a vast minority.

VAVS Program

We recently appointed Tillman Rutledge of San Antonio, Texas as our VAVS representative. Should any of our members, next of kin, or honorary , wish to become involved in voluntary service in the VA hospitals, please let us know. Tillman will get back to you very quickly. We are fortunate in having Tillman in this position as he has been involved in such work for a long, long time.

Forthcoming Items of Interest

History channel aired "Moment of Truth" with Stephen Ambrose on September 10, 2001. On December 7, 2001 Carlton TV will present "Hell in the Pacific." Check our local TV guides for time and channel. also, watch for the AARP "Modern Maturity'' November-December issue. A story written by Hampton Sides will include several of our members. Some time soon Fox News will present "War Stories," one of which will concern Bataan.

A new book out these days is "Death on the Hell Ships", by Gregory Michno. Pubished by the Naval Institute Press it is one of the most honest books yet written on the subject of the transportation of allied prisoners of war by the Japanese. It tells of the murders and atrocities committed when a number of the ships were junk. It tells of the many lies the Japanese concocted to cover those crimes and how many of those involved in the crimes were never brought to trial and still walk the streets of Japan as free men.

The book also reveals that after 1942 the American military, armed with "Ultra", a Japanese decoding machine, had intercepted messages of ships and their cargo sailing for Japan. "Friendly fire" was responsible for thousands of deaths on ships carrying allied prisoners of war. We have long believed that our intelligence in Manila and all over the pacific was too good not to have known of these ships and their cargos. Details of such sinkings may be found in this book. "Ultra" remained a secret until 1974. The book asks "why was the secrets of Ultra held so long?' It goes on to say that the reason, perhaps, was the possible indignation of thousands of family members who would not take kindly to reading about the loss of their loved ones, feeling they were played with "so cavalierly."" Friendly fire was not so friendly, nor inadvertent."

For years the story has been that the ships were sunk with the cargo unknown to this government. Further, that because the ships were unmarked, the Japanese were too blame for the sinking. Many of us never believed that and the book is vindication for our thinking.

How many times have we heard "Why isn't there a movie on this"? Well, the book also points out that an attempt to make a movie on the sinking of two of these ships, the Kachidoki Maru and Rakuyo Maru, went nowhere when Sony's CEO (Morita Akio) decided against such a filmm.  Akio, a naval officer of World War II, alleged that "Tri-star didn't want to offend its new Japanese bosses with a film critical of the nation's treatment of WW II POWs"  The Japanese lobby in this country is that strong as to prevent a film of this nature. Yet, there is no trouble in making a movie which depicts the "nasty Nazis."

All in all, "Death on the Hell Ships" is very much worth reading.   We are indebted the author for the above quotes.
 
 

Read in an article where the president of the Japanese American citizens league, John Teteishi, had a meeting with the director and producer of the movie "Pearl Harbor" to express his concerns on how Japanese Americans would suffer in image, due to the movie. So to appease him they added a scene where a Japanese American risks his life to save a wounded American sailor. This was not a part of the script, but rather a decision made after the meeting. The JACL got to add their own scene to the movie.

The article goes on to say how various lines of certain historical quotes were tweaked or changed to make it more palatable for the Japanese market. The producer is quoted as saying "we are trying to capture the feel of Pearl Harbor, we are not doing history."

I guess the feel of Pearl Harbor lies in an atrocious love story and not in the deaths of over 2400 young American kids.
 
 

Dear Sir:

I went to your web site because I am doing a report on the Bataan Death March. Out of all the sites that I have been on (which is about 25) yours has been one of the most helpful...

Dear Sir:

Thank you so much for all your information that you sent me. I can't express how much your information means to me. I also want to let you know that I am so grateful for your speedy response. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I learned more about the war on your web site and a few others in one day than I learned in all my years in school!