Ignatius Ding, Secretary of the Alliance for Preserving the Truth of the Sino-Japanese War, has circulated a request for interested persons to contact U.S. congressional offices in support of a House Resolution for Japan to offer an apology and compensati on to victims. The request includes a sample letter, a copy of Congressman Lipinksi's draft resolution, and a copy of an April 9 story by AP Diplomatic Writer Barry Schweid quoting former Ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale on the issue of apology and compensation by the Japanese government. Lipinski's draft resolution is quite detailed and requires attentive reading. In the resolution, Lipinksi detailed facts and figures of Japan's unresolved wartime legacy comparing the death rates of allied POW and civilian internees held by Germany with those held by Japan. The figures are dreadful.
Similar ratios hold for other allied POW and civilian internees.
That might have meant no survivors to tell the stories, and fewer problems for Japan today. It is interesting to note that in the aftermath of World War II in the Pacific, no Simon Wiesenthal type of figure emerged to hound war criminals. Wiesenthal is remembered as the prototype Nazi hunter, at times waging a one man campaign to establish Holoc aust records and bring Nazi criminals to justice. Only after long and steadfast campaigning by a handful of surviving comfort women, internees and POW has Japan been forced to reckon with the issue.