[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 105 (Wednesday, July 17, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8060-S8061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR FILIPINO WORLD WAR II VETERANS

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Committee on the Judiciary be immediately discharged from further 
consideration of Senate Concurrent Resolution 64 and that the Senate 
proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 64) to recognize and 
     honor the Filipino World War II veterans for their defense of 
     democratic ideals and their important contribution to the 
     outcome of World War II.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the concurrent resolution?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
concurrent resolution.
  Mr. STEVENS. I ask unanimous consent the concurrent resolution be 
agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and any 
statements relating to the concurrent resolution appear in the 
appropriate place in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 64) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The concurrent resolution, with its preamble, is as follows:

                            S. Con. Res. 64

       Whereas the Commonwealth of the Philippines was 
     strategically located and thus vital to the defense of the 
     United States during World War II;
       Whereas the military forces of the Commonwealth of the 
     Philippines were called into the United States Armed Forces 
     during World War II by Executive order and were put under the 
     command of General Douglas MacArthur;
       Whereas the participation of the military forces of the 
     Commonwealth of the Philippines in the battles of Bataan and 
     Corregidor and in other smaller skirmishes delayed and 
     disrupted the initial Japanese effort to conquer the Western 
     Pacific;
       Whereas that delay and disruption allowed the United States 
     the vital time to prepare the forces which were needed to 
     drive the Japanese from the Western Pacific and to defeat 
     Japan;
       Whereas after the recovery of the Philippine Islands from 
     Japan, the United States

[[Page S8061]]

     was able to use the strategically located Commonwealth of the 
     Philippines as a base from which to launch the final efforts 
     to defeat Japan;
       Whereas every American deserves to know the important 
     contribution that the military forces of the Commonwealth of 
     the Philippines made to the outcome of World War II; and
       Whereas the Filipino World War II veterans deserve 
     recognition and honor for their important contribution to the 
     outcome of World War II: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that the 
     President should issue a proclamation which recognizes and 
     honors the Filipino World War II veterans for their defense 
     of democratic ideals and their important contribution to the 
     outcome of World War II.

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