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[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 129 (Friday, September 21, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1628-E1630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

           U.S. POW DELEGATION TO JAPAN, OCTOBER 12-21, 2012

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL M. HONDA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 21, 2012

  Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on National POW/MIA Recognition 
Day to honor prisoners of war from America's greatest generation and 
thank the Government of Japan for recognizing the sacrifices these men 
have made for peace. On October 12, seven former members of the U.S. 
Army, Army Air Corps, Air Force, Marines, and Navy who fought in the 
Pacific Theater of World War II will travel to Tokyo as guests of the 
Japanese government. This will be the third U.S. POW delegation to 
Japan.
  These brave veterans all suffered as prisoners of war of Imperial 
Japan. The conditions in which they were held are unimaginable. For 
most, their first trip to Japan was on aging freighters called 
``Hellships,'' where the men were loaded into suffocating holds with 
little space, water, food, or sanitation. At the POW camps in the 
Philippines, Japan and China, they suffered unmerciful abuse aggravated 
by the lack of food, medicine, clothing, and shelter. Each POW also 
became a slave laborer at the mines, factories, and docks of some of 
Japan's largest companies, including Mitsubishi, Nippon Express, Ube 
Industries, Rinko Corporation, and Fushiki Kairiku Unso.
  In September 2010, the Japanese government delivered to the first 
American POW delegation an official apology for the damage and

[[Page E1629]]

suffering these men endured. Although the Japanese government had 
hosted POWs from U.S. wartime Allies, the 2010 trip was the first to 
Japan for American POWs. It was also the first official apology to any 
prisoners of war held by Japan.
  This historic apology and continued support for the trips by the 
Japanese government has improved our relations with Japan and, more 
importantly, had a positive effect on the former POWs. Japan's Foreign 
Minister, Koichiro Genba, said the trip promotes ``reconciliation of 
minds'' of U.S. POWs. Even more, James Colier, a delegate on the second 
trip to Japan in 2011, said, ``After meeting the kind people at JMC 
[Japan Metals & Chemicals' Takaoka Works] and after observing the 
beautiful surroundings of the city, I realized that I had been robbed 
of the opportunity of truly knowing this place for the past 66 years. 
Takaoka had always remained as a dark and depressing place in my mind. 
Yet this visit has finally afforded me the opportunity to appreciate 
its beauty.''
  I know that the American POWs fought hard for this recognition. I 
appreciate the courage of the Japanese government for their historic 
and meaningful apology. I thank the POWs for their persistent pursuit 
of justice, and commend the U.S. State Department for helping them.
  Still missing, however, from this significant act of atonement are 
the apologies from the myriad Japanese companies that used and abused 
POWs for slave labor to maintain war production. It is time now for 
these companies to break their silence and to follow the successful 
example of their government by offering an apology and supporting 
programs for lasting remembrance and reconciliation. Furthermore, I 
invite my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in making a 
small, but significant, gesture to show these men that Congress has not 
forgotten their experience and sacrifice by cosponsoring House 
Resolution 333.
  Significantly, this year marks the 70th Anniversary of the Defense of 
the Philippines, Bataan Death March and the Fall of Corregidor, and the 
third U.S. POW delegation to Japan includes three survivors of the 
infamous Bataan Death March, two who were captured at the surrender of 
Corregidor, one on Guam, and one shot down over Tokyo. One of the 
veterans believes that he was subject to medical experimentation. Their 
traveling companions include four wives, one daughter, one son, and one 
close friend. I wish these men and their companions a fulfilling trip 
to Japan, and I know that their journey will contribute to the historic 
peace and friendship between the peoples of the United States and our 
important ally Japan.
  It gives me great gratitude to tell the vivid stories of the third 
U.S. POW Delegation to Japan.
  Randall S. Edwards, 95, lives in Lakeland, Florida. Born in Wyoming, 
he grew up in Nebraska and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1935 after high 
school to see the world. He was sent to the Philippines in 1940 and 
assigned as a Radioman 1st Class to the submarine tender, the USS 
Canopus, which had been ordered to stay in Manila Bay after the bombing 
of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. By 1942 Edwards was a POW at 
Cabanatuan 3 and shipped to Mukden, China (today's Shenyang) in October 
1942 in Mitsubishi's Hellship Tottori Maru via Formosa and Korea to 
Manchukuo (Manchuria). Edwards was a slave laborer at MKK (Manshu 
Kosaku Kikai, which some researchers believe was owned by Mitsubishi 
and known as Manchuria Mitsubishi Machine Tool Company, Ltd.). He 
worked on multiple machines from grinders to lathes, carefully 
sabotaging each task. He believes that the multiple shots and blood 
tests that he received while at Mukden were part of human medical 
experiments conducted by the Imperial Army's 731st Biological Warfare 
Unit. After the war, Edwards remained in the Navy where he received 
over 40 medals during his service and retired in 1955 as a Warrant 
Officer. After the Navy, he received his BS degree in Electrical 
Engineering from the University of Florida, Gainesville. Edwards went 
on to become a National Service officer for American Defenders of 
Bataan and Corregidor and American Ex-Prisoners of War to help his 
fellow veterans with their Veterans Affairs claims. POW# 104
  Robert W. Ehrhart, 89, lives in Carmichael, California. He grew up in 
Oakland, California and enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve during 
high school. His unit was activated November 6, 1940 and sent to the 
Philippines in April 1941. On January 1, 1942 they were assigned to the 
Third Battalion, Fourth Marines and joined the Battle of Corregidor 
until the surrender on May 6, 1942. Ehrhart was sent to the Cabanatuan 
POW Camp where he was on a burial detail, burying as many as forty men 
a day. He remembers that ``bodies were like skeletons and when you 
lifted them onto the window shutters, which were used for litters, 
their skin would peel back and stick to your hands.'' To bolster his 
morale and that of his fellow POWs, he started to draw cartoons, 
risking severe punishment if discovered. In September 1943, Ehrhart was 
transferred to Japan aboard the Hellship Taga Maru (aka Coral Maru). He 
was sent to Osaka 4-D Sakurajima where he was a slave laborer at 
Hitachi Zosen's Sakurajima Shipyard (today's Universal Shipping 
Corporation). He worked as a riveter helping build military ships and 
oil tankers. After the camp was bombed in May 1945, he was sent to 
Osaka 6-B, Akenobe, POW Camp where he was a slave laborer working at a 
copper mine for Mitsubishi Mining (today's Mitsubishi Materials 
Corporation). After the war, Ehrhant recuperated in military hospitals 
from vitamin deficiency, malnutrition, and various tropic diseases. He 
was discharged April 29 1946. He then studied Mechanical Engineering at 
the University of California, Berkeley. POW# 221

  David G. Farquhar, Jr., 90, lives in Redlands, California where he 
has lived all his life. He joined the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942. He 
trained in Nebraska and was assigned as a Technical Sergeant to General 
Curtis LeMay's 20th Air Force, 24th Squadron, 313th Bomb Wing, 6th bomb 
group, Crew #2404. He was sent with the 6th Bomb Group to Tinian in the 
Northern Marianas in January 1945. On May 23, 1945, he was a turret 
gunner when his B-29 was shot down over Tokyo by flak and fighter 
planes. They were taken to the infamous horse stalls outside of the 
Kempeitai (military police of the Imperial Army) Headquarters in Tokyo 
near the Emperor's palace. They were not considered POWs but ``special 
prisoners'' who were war criminals. They were beaten, starved, 
tortured, and denied clothes, basic hygiene, and medical treatment. On 
August 15th, the day Japan surrendered, he was transferred to a cell at 
Tokyo Base Camp #1 Omori where he was liberated August 28, 1945. Omori 
was the first POW camp liberated. After a series of hospital stays, he 
was discharged in 1946 and returned to San Diego State College (today's 
San Diego State University) to earn a BA degree in Engineering. He then 
obtained an MA degree in Education from the University of Redlands. 
POW# Not Known to ``Special Prisoners''
  Douglas Northam, 93, lives in Reno, Nevada. Born in Morris County, 
Texas, he grew up in nearby Naples, Texas. After graduating from high 
school in 1937, he enlisted in the Civilian Conservation Corps and in 
1940 in the U.S. Navy. He was transferred to China in February of 1941 
and assigned to the USS Oahu (PR-6), a Yangtze River Patrol boat ported 
in Shanghai. Afterwards, Northam was assigned to an artillery group on 
Corregidor, which was forced to surrender on May 7th when Corregidor 
fell. As a POW of Japan, he was sent to Bilibid POW Camp in Manila and 
then moved to Cabanatuan 1 and 2. In November 1942, he was sent to 
Japan aboard Mitsubishi's Hellship the Nagata Maru. He worked for 
Nippon Express as a slave stevedore in the freight yards in and around 
the city of Osaka at Umeda Bunsho Camp (Osaka 2-D UMEDA). In March 
1945, after his POW camp was firebombed, he was transferred to Osaka 
POW Camp 5-B TSURUGA where he was a slave stevedore again for Nippon 
Express and Tsuruga Transportation Company. After the war, Northam 
utilized the GI Bill to study geology at the University of California, 
Berkeley. POW# 117
  John Leroy Mims, 90, lives in Aberdeen, North Carolina. Born in 
Ashburn, Georgia, he grew up in Florida and enlisted in the Army at age 
16 in 1938, but was discharged a year later after it was discovered 
that he was underage. Still hungry and jobless, he re-enlisted February 
15, 1941 and was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion of the famous 
31st Infantry Regiment. In April 1941, he was sent to the Philippines 
aboard the USAT Republic and stationed at Cuartel de Espana in Manila. 
He fought in the Battle for Bataan and as a POW forced on the Bataan 
Death March. During the war, his Filipino fiancee Juanita worked as a 
secretary for a Japanese general and bravely aided the resistance by 
sending shortwave radio messages to Allied forces in the Pacific. As a 
POW, the Japanese repeatedly beat and tortured Mims. Although they were 
able to break his body, they could never come close to breaking his 
spirit. During his captivity, the Japanese broke his back, neck and 
both of his legs and shattered many of the bones in his face. The 
beatings briefly left him a paraplegic on two separate occasions and he 
still retains a limp. Of the 1,600 soldiers in the 31st Infantry 
Regiment who surrendered, less than half survived Japanese captivity. 
In September 1944, he was sent to Japan on board Mitsubishi's Nippon 
Yusen Kaisha (NYK) Hellship Sekiho Maru. Mims became a slave laborer 
mining coal for Ube Kosan's Sanyo Muen Kogyo Sho (Ube Industries' Sanyo 
Smokeless Coal Work, which is still known today as Ube Industries Ltd.) 
at Hiroshima #6B--Omine (Sanyo) POW Camp in Omine-machi, Yamaguchi 
Prefecture. After the war, Mims remained in the Army for the next 27 
years, attaining the rank of Sergeant First Class and retiring in 1963. 
POW# 429

[[Page E1630]]

  John Real, 90, lives in Ventura, California. A California native, he 
enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps after graduating from high school 
in 1940. He was sent to the Philippines in April 1941 and assigned to 
aerial reconnaissance at Clark Field with the 2nd Observation Squadron, 
27th Bombardment Group, V Bomber Command, 20th Air Force. Real and his 
unit manned an observation tower on top of Mt. Mariveles, Bataan during 
Japan's invasion of the Philippines where he tracked Japanese ship 
movement around the Olongapo Navy Yard. He walked down the mountain to 
surrender on April 9, 1942 and was stripped of all his belongings 
before being forced on the Bataan Death March. At the start of the 
march, he and others were used as human shields by being forced to walk 
in front of seized American 155mm caliber field guns (Long Toms) that 
the Japanese were firing at Corregidor. He was a POW at both Camp 
O'Donnell and Cabanatuan 1. He avoided a certain death at O'Donnell by 
volunteering for a work detail on Bataan. In September 1943, he was 
sent to Moji, Japan aboard the Hellship Taga Maru (aka Coral Maru) via 
Formosa. At Tokyo 5-B POW Camp in Niigata, he was a slave laborer 
unloading coal ships for Niigata Kairiku Unso, now part of the Rinko 
Corporation. After the war, Real received a BA degree in Business 
Administration from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a 
MA degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona. 
POW# 514
  George R. Summers, 90, lives in Riverside, California. Born in the 
Philippines, he grew up in California where he joined the Marine Corps 
Reserve in February 1941. Activated in June 1941, his unit was sent to 
Guam in September 1941. Japan invaded the island on December 8, 1941, 
and he was taken prisoner by the 10th of December. Summers was on the 
first transport of Allied POWs to Japan, the Argentina Maru with 420 
American POWs from Guam to Tadotsu on the north coast of Shikoku. After 
arriving in Japan on January 16, 1942, the POWs were transported to 
Zentsuji (Hiroshima Branch #1), a POW camp about eight kilometers from 
Tadotsu. He spent six months there clearing a mountainside to plant 
apple trees. He was then transferred to Tanagawa Osaka Area POW Command 
#4B Camp, where he helped to manually tear down a mountainside to build 
a breakwater for a primitive dry-dock and submarine base. This camp was 
noted for its severe malnutrition and extremely high death rate of 
POWs. Six months later, he was sent to Umeda Bunsho Camp in Osaka 
(Osaka 2-D UMEDA), Japan, where he worked for Nippon Express as a slave 
stevedore. He was transferred to a total of six POW camps due to 
American bombings. His last camp was the Nagoya 10-B Fushiki Camp, 
where he worked as a stevedore slave unloading soybeans from Korea for 
Fushiki Kairiku Unso until Japan's surrender. After his release, he was 
hospitalized for six months at the Long Beach Naval Hospital. In 
retirement, he has focused on real estate investment and his hobbies of 
collecting Koi fish and exotic birds. POW# 347

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