News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Ex-POWs Push For Japan Compensation

Date: November 05, 2000

"Senate urges justice for WWII POWs forced to labor in Japan

Associated Press

WASHINGTON _ The Senate is urging the Clinton administration to help negotiate a settlement to lawsuits brought by American World War II POWs who contend Japanese companies mistreated them as slave labor.

Administration officials say the former prisoners' lawsuits against the private companies are prohibited under a 1951 peace treaty between the United States and Japan.

But the Senate voted unanimously late Tuesday to urge the State Department to open a dialogue between veterans and the companies because prisoners were forced into work for years while beaten, starved and denied medical care.

"I think it's wonderful. It's about time for our government to help us, not hinder us," said Lester Tenney, 80, of La Jolla, Calif., a former member of a tank battalion who spent three years as a prisoner working in a coal mine. "I don't think we want to ever forget it."

The Senate recommendation came in a nonbinding resolution that doesn't require President Clinton's signature. The vote sent it to the House for consideration.

Lawmakers insist they have no dispute with the Japanese government or citizens. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, compared the legal claims to those from Holocaust survivors against German companies.

"Fifty years have passed since the atrocities occurred, yet our veterans are still waiting for accountability and justice," Hatch said."