IV
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 176
Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning the maltreatment of United
States military and civilian prisoners by the Japanese during World
War II.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 10, 1996
Mr. DORNAN (for himself, Mr. STUMP, Ms. LOFGREN, and Mr. BILIRAKIS)
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on International Relations, and in addition to the Committee
on Government Reform and Oversight, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning the mal-
treatment of United States military and civilian prisoners
by the Japanese during World War II.
Whereas 33,587 United States servicemen and women and
13,966 United States civilian men, women, and children
were captured by the Japanese in the Pacific Theater
during World War II;
Whereas these United States military and civilian prisoners
were confined in brutal prison camps by the Japanese
military and subjected to severe shortages of food, medi-
cine, and basic necessities;
•HCON 176 IH
Whereas a large number of United States military and civil-
ian prisoners were subjected to forced labor by the Japa-
nese military;
Whereas United States military and civilian prisoners were
starved to death, beaten to death, and summarily exe-
cuted by beheading, firing squads, or immolation;
Whereas, as a result, many of the United States military and
civilian prisoners who survived have suffered from life-
long illnesses, as well as psychological and emotional
trauma and financial hardships;
Whereas of all the United States military and civilian pris-
oners held by the Germans in Europe during World War
II, 1.1 percent of military prisoners and 3.5 percent civil-
ian prisoners died;
Whereas, comparatively, of all the United States military and
civilian prisoners held by the Japanese during World War
II, 37.3 percent of military prisoners and 11 percent of
civilian prisoners died;
Whereas almost all United States military and civilian pris-
oners rescued from the Japanese at the end of World
War II were afflicted with diseases caused by malnutri-
tion and deprivation;
Whereas during the ‘‘death march’’ following the surrender
of Bataan in the Philippines in April 1942, between 550
and 1,000 United States soldiers perished, including
many who were shot, stabbed, or beheaded by their Japa-
nese captors;
Whereas in Mukden, Manchuria, the Japanese biochemical
warfare detachment, Unit 731, commanded by Dr. Shiro
Ishii, conducted experiments on living prisoners of war
which included infecting prisoners—called ‘‘logs of
•HCON 176 IH
wood’’—with deadly toxins including plague, anthrax, ty-
phoid, cholera, and a dozen other pathogens;
Whereas of the 1,500 United States prisoners believed to
have been held at Mukden, at least 260 died during the
first winter of imprisonment and of the 300 living survi-
vors of Mukden, many claim physical ailments related to
being subjected to chemical-biological experiments;
Whereas after World War II, Dr. Ishii and other prominent
scientists and physicians of Unit 731 who conducted
human biological warfare experiments, dissected living
prisoners, and froze prisoners to death for purposes of
scientific experimentation, were given pardons by United
States military tribunals in exchange for use of their ex-
periment records;
Whereas these experiment records remain classified by cer-
tain Federal departments and agencies of the United
States and access to such records has been denied to the
Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as to the doctors
of individuals who were subjected to the experimentation;
Whereas, as of 1996, approximately 6,400 former United
States military prisoners of war of the Japanese and
2,400 former United States civilian prisoners of war of
the Japanese are still alive, with many suffering from the
physical and emotionally traumatic effects of their cap-
tivity;
Whereas the Government of Germany has formally apologized
to the victims of the Holocaust and has gone to great
lengths to provide financial compensation for the victims
and to provide for their needs and recovery;
•HCON 176 IH
Whereas in 1988 the United States Government acknowl-
edged the unfairness of its policy of detaining Japanese-
Americans during World War II;
Whereas in 1993 international jurists in Geneva, Switzerland,
ruled that ‘‘comfort women’’—sex slaves of the Japanese
military during World War II—deserve compensation of
at least $40,000 for each individual for ‘‘extreme pain
and suffering’’ suffered by such individuals; and
Whereas the Japanese Government has refused to acknowl-
edge most of its World War II atrocities and has refused
to provide reparations to its victims; Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) the Government of Japan should imme-
diately pay reparations to United States military
and civilian prisoners of war held by the Japanese
during World War II in an amount equal to not less
than $22,000 for each such prisoner of war—the
amount requested in an ongoing international law-
suit by former United States prisoners of war of the
Japanese against the Government of Japan;
(2) the Government of Japan should express
formally its regret to United States military and ci-
vilian prisoners of war who the Japanese tortured,
neglected, and on whom it conducted experiments;
and
•HCON 176 IH
(3) the relevant Federal departments and agen-
cies of the United States should declassify and re-
lease to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and to
the doctors of individuals who were subjected to ex-
perimentation by the Japanese, all requested United
States and Japanese records and documents relating
to the Japanese biochemical warfare detachment,
Unit 731, and any other records or documents relat-
ing to medical or bacteriological experimentation on
United States military and civilian prisoners of war
that are currently in the possession of such Federal
departments and agencies.
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