[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 261 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 261

Honoring and remembering on National Former POW Recognition Day and the 
 75th Anniversary of the Fall of Bataan on the Philippine Islands, the 
   brave men and women who as prisoners of war gave their liberty to 
ensure ours, thus embodying the enduring spirit of American freedom and 
                             determination.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 6, 2017

  Mr. Hunter (for himself, Mr. Kinzinger, Mr. Knight, Mr. Peters, Mr. 
  Issa, and Mr. Jones) submitted the following resolution; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Honoring and remembering on National Former POW Recognition Day and the 
 75th Anniversary of the Fall of Bataan on the Philippine Islands, the 
   brave men and women who as prisoners of war gave their liberty to 
ensure ours, thus embodying the enduring spirit of American freedom and 
                             determination.

Whereas from the British prison ships floating in New York's harbor to the Tiger 
        Cages in North Vietnam, from the copper mines of Japan to the mine 
        shafts of Berga, from Andersonville, Georgia, to Mukden, China, American 
        service men and women have endured unimaginable cruelty and unspeakable 
        treatment at the hands of their captors;
Whereas American prisoners of war were stripped of their rights, their dignity, 
        their health, and in many cases their lives;
Whereas these servicemembers endured trials few of us can imagine and found 
        courage in a darkness we will hopefully never experience;
Whereas National Former POW Recognition Day was established to memorialize the 
        surrender of 80,000 American and Filipino troops by General Edward P. 
        King on April 9, 1942, on the Bataan Peninsula that led to the infamous 
        Bataan Death March and nearly four years of brutal imprisonment and 
        slave labor for the survivors;
Whereas, by May 10, 1942, over 11,500 Americans and Filipinos surrendered on 
        Corregidor, a fortress island in Manila Bay, and at various bases in the 
        Southern Philippine Islands turning the fall of the Philippines into the 
        largest surrender in United States military history;
Whereas over 26,000 American POWs were ultimately held by Imperial Japan, with 
        an estimated mortality rate of 40 percent, of which nearly one-third of 
        these deaths on ``hell ships'' carrying them to Japan for slave labor in 
        Japanese companies;
Whereas the productive peace between the United States and Japan has produced a 
        model of reconciliation between former combatants;
Whereas the Government of Japan in 2009 offered an apology to the United States 
        POWs for their ``damage and suffering'' under Imperial Japan, and in 
        2010 established a program for former POWs and their families to visit 
        Japan and their former POW camps; and
Whereas the participants encourage the Government of Japan to partner with its 
        national companies to turn this successful program into an international 
        model of reconciliation and a permanent fund to support projects for 
        remembrance, documentation, education, and exchange: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) appreciates the recent efforts by the Government of 
        Japan toward a historic apology for Imperial Japan's 
        maltreatment of United States prisoners of war; and
            (2) asks the Department of State to work with the 
        Government of Japan and representatives of the United States 
        POWs to memorialize this historic 75th Anniversary of the Fall 
        of Bataan by crafting a formal agreement establishing a 
        permanent future fund to understand, preserve, and teach the 
        history of the United States POW experience with Japan.
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