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Resolution No. 444
Support Former POW Slave Labor Claims
Against Japanese Firms
WHEREAS, during World War II in the Pacific Theater, over 29,000 American military personnel were captured and interned by the Japanese as prisoners of war (POWs); and
WHEREAS, nearly 40 percent of those POWs died in captivity; and
WHEREAS, this heavy loss of life gives a good indication of the horrific conditions that existed in the Japanese POW camps in contrast to less than two percent of American POWs that died in German POW camps; and
WHEREAS, most of these POWs were transported throughout the Japanese Empire to work as slave labor in horrific conditions for the military or private Japanese companies all in violation of the 1929 Geneva Convention; and
WHEREAS, since the end of World War II, neither the Japanese government nor those private Japanese companies that enslaved our fighting men have offered to make restitution for the abuses and injuries suffered; and
WHEREAS, the Government of Japan did not offer an apology until February 2009 and one has yet to be received from Japanese industry for their inhumane actions; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. government has never actively sought to have fair compensation and restitution paid to these former POWs who were deprived of all human dignity during their service to their country; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Government takes the position that the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty ends any and all war claims against Japan, the U.S. Department of State opposes the legal actions of the former American POWs to obtain compensation from Japanese companies, and the U.S. Department of Justice has filed papers in court proceedings that stopped all court cases of these former POWs from ever going forward in any court; and
WHEREAS, all lawsuits filed by American veterans captured by the Japanese during World War II and later enslaved by the Japanese military and companies have failed; and
WHEREAS, every Allied nation whose military personnel suffered under Japanese internment during WWII (United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, and the Isle of Man), except the U.S., has in recent years compensated ex gratia their survivors between $14,000 and $23,000 (in 2008 dollars); and
WHEREAS, every Allied nation whose military personnel suffered under Japanese internment during WWII, except the U.S., has had their former POWs and their descendants invited to participate in the Peace, Friendship, and Exchange Initiative started in 1995 to fund visits and research on the POW experience in order to promote a spirit of reconciliation with Japan and the Japanese people; now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, that we urge the U.S. Congress to emulate our Pacific War Allies and provide support for fair and just compensation for the injuries suffered by all American POWs who were forced to work as slave laborers for Imperial Japan during World War II; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we urge the Congress and Administration to encourage the Government of Japan: to communicate to the Japanese business community to follow the government’s example to unequivocally and in a public way apologize to the former POWs of Japan; to include the American POWs in a new and permanent Peace, Friendship, and Exchange Fund (or Peace and Reconciliation Fund); and to release all remaining Japanese government and industry records and documents regarding Allied POWs and wartime forced labor.
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