Bataan survivors hear apology from Japan official
By GUILLERMO CONTRERAS Express-News
May 31, 2009, 8:50PM
Thousands of U.S. troops and allies were forced by Japanese captors to walk 65 miles in the Philippines during the deadly Bataan Death March of 1942. Many were denied food, water or medical care. Some were beheaded or disemboweled.
Those who survived have not forgotten, and on Saturday in San Antonio, a Japanese emissary delivered what many had waited 67 years for: an apology.
Japan’s ambassador to the United States, Ichiro Fujisaki, flew from Washington to San Antonio to deliver that country’s first in-person mea culpa. He made a last-minute appearance at the final scheduled reunion of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, its 64th annual convention.
Some of the 73 surviving Bataan Death March veterans of the Army and former Army Air Corps in attendance welcomed the apology, but others criticized it.
“Today, I would like to convey to you the position of the government of Japan on this issue,” Fujisaki said. “As former prime ministers of Japan have repeatedly stated: The Japanese people should bear in mind that we must look into the past and to learn from the lessons of history.
"We extend a heartfelt apology for our country having caused tremendous damage and suffering to many people, including prisoners of war, those who have undergone tragic experiences in the Bataan Peninsula, in Corregidor Island in the Philippines and other places. Ladies and gentlemen, taking this opportunity, I would like to express my deepest condolences to all those who have lost their lives in the war, and after the war, and their family members.”
His speech followed commendations to the former POWs from Pentagon officials presented by members of the U.S. Army Team Salute program, and the tearful reading by ex-POW Lester Tenney of The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha.
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The ambassador’s six-minute speech appeased some of the POWs, but several expressed concern over the atrocities of Japanese troops who stabbed their captives with bayonets, slashed them across the throat or cut off their heads.
Others carry emotional scars from enduring mistreatment at prison camps and cramped “hell ships” that took them to Japan to perform forced labor.
Fujisaki got a standing ovation from half or so of the 400 to 500 attendees...
