ELDERLY AMERICAN P O Ws at last some recognition'
 

it seems nobody is interested or even cares about this.

Shame or maybe its too much in the past to be taken seriously or compassionately?

I don't generally participate in these kind of general discussion or news threads but, I decided to post to suggest that you could perhaps describe your views and opinions to get the ball rolling.
I know for me it is hard to reply to a thread which is started with just a link to another website.

What did you think about the contents of the article?

Which parts in particular did you find interesting?

Are you opposed to, or for any of the opinions or views expressed in this article?

Is there anything within the article that you would like to focus on as a point of discussion?

How would you feel if you were in their situation?

etc etc...

ah thankyou Yuriyuri excellent suggestions.

I know that many Other POW'S from other countries suffered terribly. So many people think oh it was all so long ago, it is of no concern to us, but I believe we must never forget the awful consequences of war, and how humans can turn into monsters so easily.


I have a friend who is involved in a SOCIETY to improve relations between the japanese and those who survived the Burma Railway Incident-- the fact that so many survivors lives were ruined by their awful experiences, there have been cases where one or two of the worst japanese abusers have apologised and befriended some of the POW's whose lives were so badly affected. That is a move in the right direction.

I do not know how many Americans were also treated so badly and it seems very late in the day that some kind of acknowledgement to some surviving American POW's.


The whole war was shocking but too many were treated appallingly by the Japanese in the camps and mines etc. THE hellships where so many of them were transported to places where the japanese wished to have their slave labour-- !!! words cannot express how so many suffered. ALl the allies from other countries as well.


japan had not signed the geneva convention about the treatment of captured prisoners. (Maybe someone can correct me on this)


THis man is 90 years old. It has taken so long.

The book I have which comprises of letters to the ASAHI SHIMBUN written in 1986 by many japanese survivors is also enlightening-- You have soldiers, housewives and etc,and it is well worth reading. it is called: SENSO: THE JAPANESE REMEMBER THE PACIFIC WAR.


I grew up in much ignorance about what had happened in JAPAN during the war. When each year it was VJ day I did not understand because it seemed not to be mentioned here/ UK. I grew up all during the ww2 here in UK and hated the GERMANS.


later when I had friends who hated the JAPANESE and would never buy anything from JAPAN because of the japanese cruelty to POW's I learned much more.

what I have learned so far has horrified me-- It proves how easily man can swiftly become a monster.

If forgiveness and acknowledgement of what happened to all those who were incarcerated in JAPANESE camps then hopefully lessons will be learned.

thanks again Yuri yuri.

A touching story. Especially considering the guy's capacity to forgive.

I agree that this stuff shouldnt be forgotten... but it will be.

200 years from now people will be speaking about WW2 in a disconnected, matter of fact manner in the same way people speak of wars like the American civil war, or the Boer war.

The best way to make people realise war sucks is to use present day examples or more recent ones.

Guantanamo bay among other US prison camps are still open.... people are being held without trial and tortured.

It seems like America learnt nothing.

I'm really glad that Lester Tenney is visiting Japan and getting closure. I don't want to imagine what it's been like for him living with those terrible events replaying in his mind without any solace.

mmm maybe for you RONIN better to illustrate more recent events-- but we do too easily forget. I am in my mid- seventies--not sure how much longer I'll be around and people of my era tend to look back.

What is TIME after all?


If some ex pows have suffered for too many years because of lack of understanding or some sort of closure-- it seems heartless.

I believe many people in the forces today are treated badly when they get back home. It slike the government send them to war-- but really don't take enough responsibility when they return.

I believe our country does not do anywhere enough to help returning soldiers etc.

America over reacted after 9/11 and dragged us into new wars. Bush brought our prime minister in-- He hung onto Bushes coat tails. Many of us protested against going into IRAQ. And what the blazes we are doing in Afghanistan beats me!!


History should teach us-- do we ever learn from history? It seems not because the same things are repeated over and over.

As for GUantanamo bay? How is it still allowed?

umm this seems to be extracts from a book re POW's.


Soldier slaves: abandoned by the ... - Google Books

I don't think that Japan should apologize to the U.S or any pow's form there until the U.S apologizes for what it did, which I think is a lot worse. Ex. Nuking Japan and imprisoning Japanese Americans in internment camps just because the government was paranoid. It seems like the U.S government only follows the constitution when it's convenient for them.

if we all do what you suggest then there will never be closure.

surely individuals who were brutally treated as POW's when they were in a war where they had to join and fight-- It wasn't the POW's choice to be there.

It seems to always be Not if so and so and so and so.

Somewhere it has to start and to change.

I'm also pretty sure that people who were incenerated and suffered disfiguring burns didn't want to fight either, after all they were women, children, and men who weren't even soldiers. And I'm also pretty sure that people didn't go to the U.S to work hard to make a better life and then have everything taken from them. Nope no choice.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

If Japan apologizes for its atrocities and the US doesnt it just shows that Japan has progressed further than the Americans.

Though I'm pretty sure that the Americans apologised to the Japanese American community for its treatment... I dont know for sure though.

In 1988, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government. The legislation stated that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". Over $1.6 billion in reparations were later disbursed by the U.S. government to Japanese Americans who had either suffered internment or were heirs of those who had suffered internment.

Japanese American internment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks for that MMM. I thought they did :)

Bataan survivor sees Japan visits as opportunities for reconciliation | The Japan Times Online


a little more about the visit to japan by a few ex POW's.

Very touching, thanks for the link dogsbody.

War is horrible, no joke. I never fought in a war, but I have family and friends that did and are, and it's gruesome. Glad some good can come out of the tragic past.

In reply to x2cool: Saying Americans should not be forgiven for the atomic bombs, and everything else, it's like saying Germany should not be forgiven for the Holocaust (of which a very few Germans actually participated), and Japan should not be forgiven for the invasion of Manchuria (and the subsequent slaughter of thousands of civilian lives), and China the expansion into north Vietnam, and the Crusades, and every other bloody war in history. If anything, blame this global society that allows such a thing to happen. I am part Japanese and all American, and I believe that, like dogsbody was trying to discuss, that on both sides there's pain, and in order to reconcile both sides need to agree to apologize.

Thanks for the clarification MMM, I was about to point out that the U.S. DID formerly apologize for the atomic bombs and the concentration camps. In fact, my grandpa owns his house in Hawai'i (the old one was bombed by Japan in the attack on Pearl Harbor) due to this apology.

So, I'm glad that two ex-sworn-enemies became friends in the end, and I'm glad for the POW to have some outlet and relief for what must have been a terrible and trying time in his life. Reading what he went through, I don't think anyone deserves that treatment, anyone.

thank you for your thoughtful message, everything is so true.

What mankind does to another! we do many barbaric deeds and it seems ever since time began we still have not learned essential lessons.

But kindness and regretfulness adds a little more humanity to dreadful deeds that have been committed.

Also studying history teaches us many things----but whether we take heed?


There are billions of human beings on earth-- yet each is an individual.

forgiveness is powerful and releasing and a sign also of respect.

War's are seldom fought by the people who start them.

How very true Ryzorian

We're a cranky species. That's not going away any time soon. I've seen first hand what human beings can do to each other- good and bad.

Conflict is something we subconsciously need. For instance- Novels, TV, Media of any kind. There must be a protagonist, antagonist, conflict and challenges to overcome. Even the sappiest romance novel sets people and circumstances against one another.

I'm glad whenever I read articles like this. The last one I read was a few weeks ago on 4chan's /k/ channel so I don't have a link.

In the European theater of WW2 a B17 bomber and crew was returning from France after a bomb run. The plane had been shot to hell and back, with 3/4s of the crew dead or injured, 2 engines down, half the tail shot off, ect.

A ME-109 pilot came across the badly damaged bomber- which had fallen behind from the rest of the force. Slow and could barely maneuver- easy meat for the Luftwaffe pilot. He closed in, saw the condition of the ship and crew (the tail gunner was splattered over what was left of the tail) and he escorted them out into the English channel, then reported that he had shot down the plane.

The pilot of that Bomber couldn't sleep at night after the war- as much from what had happened here as the rest of what he'd been through, and he began writing the German government looking for records, rosters, ect. It took him until the early 90s but he actually located that 109 pilot.

They met in Germany and though so many years went by, they both cried like children hugging each other- old enemies, but sharing a bond that only people fighting for their lives share. That they were on the opposing sides didn't matter anymore.

Greatest Generation indeed :)

what a story! In the midst of all that killing-- Compassion. thankyou.

it's too late to aplogize to the dead, only ensure we never see a war of that scale ever again.

The US did apolgize about interning Japanese Americans.. We aren't going to apolgize about useing a big weapon to win a war as quickly as possible, thus saveing countless American lives. That's crazy talk.

AS to the ones responsable for the harsh treatment of POWS they have been delt with decades ago, so it's a moot point.

what about all those women the nurses-- who struggled to help injured captives-- raped, abused killed at random.


you forget that some are still alive-- those who survived-- and their families-- what about the families of those who were treated so terribly in camps.


Its all too easy to say its in the past-- but the past comes back to haunt us and we should never forget how easily MAN can so easily treat other human beings in such inhumane way.


Never forget and learn as much as you can about the truth.


I recommend you read "THE REAL TENKO" and other books.

Comfort women or somthing similar I believe they were called.

I agree that their story should be told also.....from what i understand many were shipped to mainland japan (or japanese territories) from all over asia (korea, china, phillipines etc) but are still to this day fighting for recognition and rights.

well yes but many of the nurses and POWS from other camps. especially Dutch and Australian among ,many others.


There is still so much we are learning. Killing survivors from a Ship-- who were on the beach.Only one survived after the Japanese thought she was dead.

those nurses were true heroines.

Yea..as far as the war against Japan itself goes..the US has nothing to apologize for. Nor do I suspect those Austrialian or British pows who were rescued because the US played hardball will complain either.

There is one thing fighting army against army, and there's another thing nuking an entire city consisting mostly in civilians to end a war. It's the worst possible way to achieve you're goal. And beginning to say that apologies aren't needed is even worse.

Civilians build tanks, bombs, planes, ships, bullets...all the equipment that the enemy army uses to kill the soldiers in my army. . Not attacking an enemy's supply ability is stupid tactically. The same goes for America..who do you think build's M1's or F15 Tomcat's or the Supercarriers, Elves?

Total War, Nations that go to war, go to total war...all aspects of the nation and it's civilans go directly to the war effort. That has been the American standard of fighting since the beginning, when we burned down the capitol of Canada in the war of 1812.

You blast every aspect of total war a nation has, you crush thier ability to fight, you destroy thier will to fight, you destroy their capability to fight. You can not hesitate or hold back or it's your civilians that get bombed.

That's a cold harsh reality of war. That's why we should endevor to prevent war from starting, cause once it starts, you don't hold back. There is no second place in war.