claims for damages arising from the japanese occupation during world war two as part of our conference agreement during the recently enacted national defense authorization act for the year two thousand and ten the house and senate armed services committee read to hold hearings on this issue in point of fact the house passed h r forty four which authorizes the payment of claims valid legislation that the senate  and pass today if they chose to take action during this congress as a matter of general principle most would agree that it's rarely prudent to review sixty three year old claims especially when we contemplate compensating relatives of the survivor who actually suffered the damages even though i was initially skeptical of the merits of this legislation i think the people of guam have made a good case that they did not have a reasonable opportunity to file their claims at the end of the war indeed they hardly had any opportunity at all congress recognized the suffering and patriotism of the people of guam by enacting the guam meritorious claims act shortly after the end of the war in one nine hundred forty five much earlier than subsequent regulations were established one hundred forty six setting a claim deadline of december first nine hundred forty six that's where things stand today if a citizen did not submit a claim by december hundred forty six sixty three years ago today the citizen missed out there were no extensions for these reasons i voted for h r forty four in support it's an act into law i don't think we can ever make anything fair and equal in this world but we should give the courageous people of guam a fair chance to make their claims other people on other islands occupied by the japanese had sufficient time to document their damages under far more favorable conditions the people of guam deserve a second chance represented by a great representative who has done a great job of telling all of us  taking us to guam i enjoy serving with her on the committee thank you must chairman assessing of the bomb work claims process has been nearly sixty years since the imperial japanese military forces invaded and occupied the us territory of guam subjecting its residents to thirty three months of horrific pain and death through it all however the largely native population to to morrow remained ever loyal to the united states in prayer and song all longed for the return of the american in a monumental operation u s naval ships on board of the island and ground forces pacific what they found and learned of was occupation was harrowing fellow americans innocent civilians were subjected to summary executions beheadings rape torture beatings forced labor force march and  ernment approximately one thousand people had died due to the brutality of occupation among among current members of the american political family eight territory or group of civilians suffered any similar fate during world war also granted released by congress at a later date one however was not included in subsequent legislation under the mistaken belief that the congress had already taken care of and won over the years it became evident that although one maintenance may have been first to receive relief they may not have received treatment equivalent to that later given other americans and japanese held areas for nearly thirty years beginning in the one nine hundred seventy s members of congress from guam introduced legislation regarding law more claims it was not until december tenth two thousand and two that the guam or claims review commission act became public law one o seven dash three three three under the act the secretary of the interior appointed the five member commission all of whom had experience relevant to the task at hand mr maree show to margo who was and is chairman of the foreign claims settlement commission was selected to be chairman of the guam commission this fortuitous connection was of great benefit to the guam commission because mr tom to margot was able to contribute not only his own expertise but that of members of his staff to the guam war claims review effort the primary task of the commission was to determine whether there was parity of war claims paid to the residents of guam under the guam meritorious claims act as compared with  awards made to other similarly affected us citizens or nationals in territory occupied by the imperial japanese military forces during world war two the guam commission met on numerous occasions held lengthy hearings both in guam and report is indeed comprehensive and carefully stated thirty two findings and develop six recommendations for the congress included in the recommendations are one twenty five thousand dollars for the errors of one residents who died during japanese occupation to twelve thousand dollars for personal injury including rape in mount attrition forced labor forced march and internment to each person who was a resident of guam during the japanese occupation and who personally suffered or to the eligible survivors five million dollars for the partment the interior for research education and media to memorialize the events of the occupation and the loyalty of the people of guam congresswoman byrd island to introduce legislation which drew from the report and her legislation has passed the house of representatives however it has failed to receive the support that would see it through to enactment that we believe it deserves as members of the committee on armed services you are aware of the bilateral agreement between the u s and japan under way under which eight thousand marines and approximately nine thousand dependents will move from okinawa to guam with planning for the military buildup underway many hope that the passage of our forty for the world war two loads the recognition act would exhibit goodwill on the part of the federal government and would act as reciprocity for the good will the oil loyalty the people of guam have always exhibited and will exhibit by hosting the marines it is for the reasons of fairness equity and justice that the the department of the interior expressed a formal policy position on behalf of the administration in september twenty second two thousand and nine letters to chairman skelton and chairman levin urging that h r forty four be included in the conference report on the national defense authorization act for fiscal year two thousand and ten the department continues to strongly support an act in of h r forty four which will restore the dignity loss during occupation and heal wounds bound in the spirits of those who survived for the thousands who pass by sabir or savagery their memory remains in stories of principle courage and sacrifice the island of guam has undergone tremendous change since world war two and it will continue with its strategic value was realized in the twenty first century the opportunity to reach back and provide equity parity  chairman skelton members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to speak about the work of the guam war claims of you commission which the commission completed on june ninth two thousand and four i am are easier to margot chairman of the foreign claims settlement commission in the department of justice i appear before you today as former chairman of the guam war claims of you commission an advisory body established by the secretary of interior under the wall more claims of you commission act public law zero seven three three three which was enacted in december two thousand and two i served in that capacity on a part time basis from october third two thousand and three until their view commission went out of existence in june of two thousand and four the vice chairman of the review commission was the late antone pinko former speaker of the legislature and the other members of the commission with the honorable robert blago marcin all former member of california the animal benjamin cruz former supreme chief justice of the guam supreme court and mistruths and cleve former career senior executive in the department of interior more claims review commission was established to determine whether there was parity of war claims paid to the residents of guam under the meritorious of the guam meritorious claims act as compared with awards made to other similarly affected us citizens or nationals in territories occupied by imperial japanese forces during world war two and to advise on any additional compensation that may be necessary to compensate the people of guam for death personal injury forced labor force march and internment suffered from the japanese occupation of the island during the war the island of guam a us territory was attacked by japanese forces on december eight hundred one the same day as the attack on pearl harbor but on the other side of the international dateline two days later on december tenth the japanese forces overran an occupied the island what followed after that was a period of thirty two months of cruel brutal and barbaric oppression of the people of guam by the japanese imperial occupation forces great numbers of islanders were beaten with many of the women were raped there were numerous beheadings in the last months of the occupation nearly all of the islanders were subjected to forced labor force marches and were herded into concentration areas causing them to suffer acutely from malnutrition immediately began organizing it has it as a base from which to launch air and sea attacks in the direction of japanese homeland at the same time the japanese devoted as much material and effort as could be spared to constructing shelter for the local citizens within weeks after the terminations of hostilities congress then enacted the guam meritorious claims act of one thousand nine hundred five authorizing directing the u navy to immediately to provide immediate relief to the people of guam this included the us providing monetary payments to the people of one hundred ten undertaking its task the guam warplanes review commission conducted research the administration of the guam meritorious claims act conducted by the u s navy's land and claims commission and compared that statute and the program and the claims program conducted pursuant to it including the one nine hundred fifty two fifty four fifty six and sixty two wake island amendments to the act as well as title two amendment to the act added in sixty two as well as survivors of this terrible period in history we then held legal experts conference in washington d c which relevant legal issues were discussed why we submitted a report to the secretary of interior and to specific congressional committees summarizing our work on the read the review missions findings and recommendations are set forth in chapters six and seven of the review commission's final report i stand by those findings  recommend findings and recommendations and continue to believe strongly that they should be implemented i would also like to say that those of us who came to the review commission from the foreign claim side of the commission were pleased to have had the opportunity to use our familiarity and expertise regarding war claims issues to assist in the implementation of this important work as former chairman of the workplace review commission wish to also say that i strongly support h r forty four guam world war two a loyalty recognition act and as it seeks to come it seeks and comes close to implementing the recommendations of the review commission's report chairman mr chairman this concludes my statement i will be happy to respond to any questions that you or your other members of the committee may have thank you thank the gentleman m testified before you on behalf of those voices silenced by fear incapacitation or death today we come before you our liberators from a war not of our own making and not waged to suit our needs thankful and grateful we here to seek justice and not merely in pursuit of recognition despite all the rejections of the past sixty years we as we did in war we will do in peace we will not we stand tall and tell you we earn the justice we we see we still have faith that america is the one place on earth where justice prevail we look to this committee and this congress to prove our faith is not in vain i pray that will finally see action because we've had our fill of we hear you we understand your pain we sympathize with how you were treated and i'm not referring to the japanese treatment of the chamorro string the op the occupation of one i'm here today travelling over seven thousand nine hundred thirty eight miles coming home crossing half the world's time zones coming from tomorrow to be here today on behalf of the people of juan i'm here to plead for not just mere recognition of their sacrifices but seeking justice for how they were treated not just by the enemy occupiers during the war but the liberators after the war the people of warm deserve more than perfunctory recognition that you deserve action action that our people will never forget time cannot heal all wounds and the federal government knows this all too well in the pacific area a history of inaction continues the festering of the wounds earned by gunmen obligations we're not afraid to tell you no more no more no more we're no longer a generation rooted in the gratefulness of a liberation we're a generation whose hearts have been hardened by unkept promises and transgressions knowing this you have no reason to be surprised if you are met with arms raised in opposition rather than arms open to accept your plans to take our lands again change our way of life and to once again suit your needs while today we address war reparations it is not the only issue that remains unresolved between the people of wine and the united states the united states plans to expand military activities on guam basing our lands and resources at certain risk of environmental and ecological harm yet our alliance remain contaminated and waits for for and being up from an earlier occupation the damage done to our people is how from the dreaded disease of cancer which befalls our greater rate than almost any other community in the country from proven exposure to radiation continues and we are made to wait for inclusion in programs to heal these wounds available only to our continental cousins self determination continues to be denied to the native inhabitants and not supported by any action until just a few weeks ago with a hearing on h r thirty nine forty when we finally see action in the return of lance taken after the war i'll be at forty five years later we see even quicker action to reverse the course today we again face the taking over lands to support the relocation of eight thousand marines and over eighty five thousand workers and their dependents that will come to support the military buildup on guam being relocated to relieve the burden of hosting the marines by the people of okinawa if there is a burden to hosting the marines being borne by the people there will be a burden associated with hosting of the marines by the people i ask that you listen to a generation savoring freedom after three years of brutal occupation the gratefulness for liberation they generously shower ed upon america hear it understand it sympathize with that but do not think for a moment of taking advantage of it again and do not accept it by continuing i recognize your responsibility and heavy obligation to act on evidence that there were disparities in the treatment of people on in workman's compensation compared to other compensation programs do not focus on the claims that were filed in a payments made this into the stories see and hear the claims see and hear of the claims not filed and paperwork not submitted toadie each other the value placed upon their lives their homes and the suffering and of the dollars claimed and a penny spade and the decision that was not worth it the issue of whether the people w war and some just were not able to run for their time from their first there was a hobson's commission one hundred forty seven and now the war crimes commission report issued by commissions concluded something more needs to be done parity there is no justice to bring them with america each time the issue has come before this august body the recommendations remain the same the people have won deserve recognition for united states in the face of a brutal enemy inflicted upon them now we have the findings of a federal commission was found that there was no parity in the treatment of people of war on others in compensation programs of those similar situated throughout our island we see evidence of want historical struggle concrete bunkers remain on r c shores heavy artillery become landmarks overgrown with jungle and war zones claiming the lives converted to national parks  recognition of a people's sacrifice in upholding the honor of america in the face of a blue enemy maintaining their dignity in their fight for liberty and demonstrating remains priceless that is the evidence everything our founding fathers envision earn this compensation we know you would we deserve it and yes we want all america to understand it with faith in democracy and the will of our leaders and our people we slowly close one educating the next i believe as dr atrocities of the japanese occupation of world war two i mention them because for them along with the thousands of who suffered as well or died the occupation i come before you to ask for closure to their sixty five year old struggle for recognition of their loyalty to the united states in the face of a brutal enemy force while preparing this testimony i thought it best to speak to survivors to get their advice on what to say when i told them that the hearing was an assessing the war claims process all of them started with a two word question what process many had in for me that immediately after the war they had heard that the united states government wanted details of how they were treated and of the savagery they witnessed some were told that because of what happened to them they would be compensated but more importantly that their struggles would not be forgotten still there were others who did not know at the time that their nation's government wanted to know of their sufferings because either the information never got to them or they were too busy trying to rebuild their lives nevertheless every survivor that i spoke to express that despite what they were told or what they heard being told nothing ever happened in december of two thousand and three almost six years to this day a nightmares that they still have about how their childhood was taken away and about how they did not know how to play with their grandchildren today because they were stripped of the opportunity to grasp that concept in order to survive today mr chairman if you were to ask people to come before this committee to provide their testimony of again many of them would not be able to make it because they have since passed on one such survivor is mr edward young g two thousand and three he ended his testimony by saying quote i am seventy seven years old if you ask me again in another ten years amy i may not be here to testify mr ugen passed away on september twenty eighth two thousand and seven  r chairman as i have been told to ask at this hearing what was claims process this congress want to assess my people have told their stories time and time again our delegates to congress starting with the latent told you'll be want it end there is a demoralizing sentiment that is growing amongst the survivors this sentiment is that the united states government is waiting for all of the war survivors to pass on so that so that this issue will not have to be dealt with although my upbringing has taught me to apologize for the statement i choose not to and challenge our nation's leaders to prove that opinion wrong i thank you for keeping your commitment to chairman to hold this hearing in order to move this issue all i can tell you with confidence that if given the opportunity the physical stamina and the financial resources to do so many of the many of the survivors will come before this committee or any other panel one more time in the hopes that this time they will have closure to their that any future process for the war be held on one as well attached to my testimony today our newspaper articles of the individual council who are survivors as you their stories i also ask that you look at their faces it is said that a picture is worth a thousand words i will tell you that at the time their photos were being taken they were not asked to pose or provide a specific expression they were only told to be comfortable comfortable mr chairman as i am providing this testimony to you forces beyond the control of my islands people are mobilizing the largest largest and most expensive peacetime military buildup on guam and i can confidently say that if you ask any residence resident if they knew the two countries end even the efforts to drum up support through petition drives and letter writing campaigns received a lack of out lackluster responses then one tired and dejected war survivor told me something that made sense of the reactions i was observing he told me it when i see it unquote when used at the workplace vision was stricken from the final version of the bill obviously there was disappointment unfortunately there was also a card feeling of dejection and the emergence of a sentiment uncommon among survivors resent as one survivor has directed me to ask you want me to be comfortable with a building a military bases on my island with japan when you haven't even recognize what japan did to us during the war five or survivor per the for the authorization for two thousand and ten and your problem is not before this committee or the house of representatives also mention i have a personal recollection of having make number of claims that would be submitted if the legislation were adopted and if so do you know how many of those would be survivors of the occupation and how many descendants of survivors thank you congressman before i answer your question i wish to point out to the committee that i brought copies of the claims of final report if anybody or the committee staff or any members wish to take a copy with them as well as the foreign claims settlement commission daniel report that explains how the commission operates and what programs claims programs it has administered over our sixty fifty eight year history it would be hard to estimate the number of claims i would say that at the time of liberation there were as one of the witnesses testified approximately twenty thousand people and if you add the ones who died during the occupation probably would be twenty one thousand people and many of them over the years have moved off the island and are located throughout the u but as to the ratio of survivors to errors that would be very difficult to calculate i think one of the witnesses said nine thousand survivors might still be living i  think it could be nine it could be ten that would again difficult because they don't live on guam and they're all over the u s i mean many of them have moved off the island so based on those numbers i would say it's ten thousand ten thousand survivors and ten thousand that have passed away ninety nine year decent piece of property so if we were to kind of gauge that generation which would be maybe one we probably would not see the entire nine thousand remaining file claims but it would be somewhere between one third of that of course the ultimate would be one hundred percent so that would be the range of numbers given that having a local program of those same eligible people that have taken advantage of a program geared towards that those would all be both of those would be direct survivors correct but the legislation also goes to descendants it would be impossible to calculate how many areas there are it would be simpler to look at how many claims that would be because it would be one claim per survivor or i mean at one claim for resident of the island during the occupation and that number is limited to a population at the time of the occupation and that was twenty so the most would be then twenty thousand yes that would be the number of claims possible of course many or it's not guaranteed that all would pursue their claims many may not pursue their claims and that would be up to hard to estimate and all the one of the one of the questions th included in the defense authorization act two thousand and ten the good guys we have to convince the other body of congress and i want to thank both the chairman skelton and ranking member mckeon you have been steadfast supporters of this issue and i appreciate all your hard work during conference this year trying to protect the provision and i also welcome our panel of witnesses we're very proud of our new assistant secretary bob out of a son of guam mr who's been very very supportive the former chairman of the guam or claims review commission and of course he's got to a lot of the information that i think the senate has during conference some of the questions that they asked i'm sure that your expert testimony will help us today and i also want to thank our senators who have traveled many thousands of miles senators been pangilinan frank last junior from the thirty one legislature and finally  and it is an issue that must be legislatively resolved by the congress the need for this congress to take action to resolve the matter of law more claims heightens by the day continued popular support for the military buildup on guam is tied to a certain extent to finally solving this long standing issue for many of us on guam people wonder how we can spend over fourteen billion in military construction but their suffering and patriotism during the imperial japanese occupation of want has yet to be fully recognized my colleagues on this panel know about the importance of the guam war claims the issue of the guam war claims takes the form of legislation h r forty four which carries broad bipartisan support in the house of representatives as i mentioned earlier the house has now passed the bill on three separate occasions twice as a bill and during the defense authorization but securing the favorable concurrence of the other body remains the challenge before us today so i am hopeful that this hearing today will eliminate further the facts and circumstances surrounding the occupation endured by the people of guam and the injustice finally be redressed by this congress this is an injustice rooted in their having been treated differently from their fellow americans as it was pointed out by the federal government in redressing their wartime losses and their damages the hearing today presents another opportunity to review this history however painful it may be recounting repeat way further this discussion today in the name of the pursuit of justice and with faith in our government cherished princip equal protection under the law we also remain focused and determined because of the very findings and the recommendations of now two federal commissions that have independently and thoroughly examined this matter against all political and legal sensitivities the commission's report speaks for itself but this hearing affords us an opportunity to explore this issue in greater present day context and to gain a place in the record answers to the questions that were posed during and leading up to the consideration of this issue as part of the national defense authorization act i want to thank again i can't thank you enough chairman skelton in our ranking member mckeon for agreeing to hold this hearing so soon so we have our hearing out of the way now it's up to the senate to call a hearing and we look forward to that i have a question that i know came up during conference and this is directed  planes review commission report recommendations has precedent elsewhere in the in the previous claims programs that have existed in u s history and furthermore as compared to those other possible people that might have some sort of claim international claims law treats civilians differently than a military  claimant and so this sort of recommendations would not be the same sort of situation that would apply to those other  possible victims of of the war additionally those other claimants were covered by other claims programs that were conducted after the war some of i believe that further support could have come from the administration on the issue of maintaining claims in the defense authorization bill can you give us a commitment that the administration will make this issue a top priority if it is attached to  essential it's a threshold issue if it is inadequate then large numbers of claimants never get an opportunity even to file a claim let alone have it merits considered and  communication and advertisements in telecommunications claims programs typically even now have a year back then during the war in the communications problem that were existing one would probably expect not not even a year you would probably expect to have a two year filing period for the or sufficient number of the population to to have a proper opportunity to file a claim in the case of the philippines they had two years in the war claims act they had two years and many of the other claims programs we compare this to had at least a year so that was the main flaw besides that there were also  cash limits for personal injury and death than the other claims programs had and they also needed congressional appropriations individually all death and personal injury claims and that doesn't normally happen with the with the other claims program so those are the main flaws and the main inequities between the program and the other claims programs but the filing period thank you very much thank you for your explanation of why we need to be here today i've been to guam several times i have seen the beautiful charo children performed by the way they have the most beautiful skin the most beautiful complection that i've seen anywhere in the world i've read ben blah book and i'm embarrassed that we have to be here today talking about this we should resolve this a long time ago i don't have any questions you know i'm enormously supportive of this and again i'm embarrassed that we have to be here today talking about this issue but i'm sure been resolved a long time ago let's make it go away now thanks thank you d recommendations and i assume the reason it's in the report is because justice in that the other programs all had that element to them as well they all included  which has impact on guam also in fact madeline i was listening to of one radio station that was interviewing secretary about a month or two ago i guess when you were there over the internet radio and one of the things that he brought up there was the presence of marshall the expectation is that a lot of would go to guam a lot of would go to hawaii and so some contact came about to give some financial aid to guam and to to a y and to mariana islands the problem that we have in the challenge in arkansas is we love the marshall islanders and they have been great great artists but there are now more marshall islands in arkansas than any other place in the marshall islands they have and some they came up there back in the late eighty's and like that and word got around and it's just been they're not consulate up there i think it's a representative there for the concert opening they've been great great contributors candidates in the marshall islands have to campaign in arkansas because somebody marshall out of here is the challenge and  we want them to continue to come out of the predicament but the resources for public health are lacking in arkansas and as you may know marshall islanders have high rates of they have leprosy they have second does it need to be evaluated because of places like arkansas which now has a higher population outside of martial law do we need to revisit how are handling the financial impact i asked that question the spirit of we really admire  response to the claims that they have made there has not been however i will say thorough analysis of the claims that each of them have given the clearly there is a measurable impact on those jurisdictions  amount to i don't think that until the legislations enacted however claims are actually made that you can come up with a definitive number final number and it was mentioned i think the number of twenty thousand  been coached by my colleague on this and i appreciate it as well as all my colleagues do we have a course out here because we've been to guam with her we've seen the exceptional way that she has represented and is so much a part and you know it really means a lot to see the response that she receives and we just know she's doing a wonderful job and i just wanted to be here to also  obligations that they have to do the military build up in a manner that's consistent with the rest back being the rights of the people of guam and what is good for one so it's not one or the other but it certainly is going to assist  the united states in terms of its ability to present itself and say these are the plans we have there are going to be problems with the military build up as we have already seen with the current yes and it w as reparations we don't have to resolve those bombs those problems still have to be resolved have to be dealt with in that manner and the taking of land of lands that have been given back to be taken right back after forty five years where the people don't have the use of those properties and not adequately compensated is another issue there are many issues between the people of guam and united states government and war reparations is but one of them  it's got to be in terms of fairness and equity that we have to deal with in terms of accepting both sides accepting their obligations to this country and we're ready to to do ours as we have always demonstrated we have it is the and that's that's correct i think that the current plans by the military says that they're going to reserve the federal lands that are available for the military expansion and not take the not use those properties but they want the  properties that are under the control of the government why why would they want more property of their currently have federal property that they're not going to develop and are going to leave in the inventory why would they want to come and take well i'm not sure they're going to be  planes with the senate and they wanted me to compromise which i did not so in your opinion should congress limit compensation for war damages to the living survivors