[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 30, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E49-E50]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 GUAM WAR CLAIMS REVIEW COMMISSION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 30, 2001

  Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, today, I'd like to reintroduce a bill 
which passed the House of Representatives during the 106th Congress 
dealing with equity for the people of Guam during World War II. While 
the bill received bi-partisan support, the Senate was unable to act on 
the bill before sine die adjournment.
  Legislation regarding Guam war restitution has been introduced by 
every Guam Delegate to Congress, beginning with Guam's first Delegate 
Antonio Won Pat, and including my predecessor, General Ben Blaz. The 
measure I introduce today is a careful compromise that incorporates 
many Congressional and Department of Interior recommendations that have 
been made over the years. The legislation amends the Organic Act of 
Guam and provides a process for U.S. restitution to Guamanians who 
suffered compensable injury during the occupation of Guam by Japan 
during World War II. Compensable injury includes death, personal 
injury, or forced labor, forced march, or internment. The bill 
establishes a federal commission to review the relevant historical 
facts and determine the eligible claimants, the eligibility 
requirements, and the total amount necessary for compensation.
  There is a lot of historical information available to show that the 
United States had every intention of remedying the issue of war 
restitution for the people of Guam. In 1945, at the urging of the 
Acting Secretary of the Navy to the House of Representatives, the Guam 
Meritorious Claims Act was enacted which authorized the Navy to 
adjudicate and settle war claims in Guam for property damage for a 
period of one year. Claims in excess of $5,000 for personal injury or 
death were to be forwarded to Congress. Unfortunately, the act never 
fulfilled its intended purposes due to the limited time frame for 
claims and the preoccupation with the local population to recover from 
the war, resettle their homes, and rebuild their lives.
  On March 25, 1947, the Hopkins Commission, a civilian commission 
appointed by the U.S. Navy Secretary, issued a report which revealed 
the flaws of the 1945 Guam Meritorious Claims Act and recommended that 
the Act be amended to provide on the spot settlement and payment of all 
claims, both property and for death and personal injury.
  Despite the recommendations of the Hopkins Commission, the U.S. 
government failed to remedy the flaws of the Guam Meritorious Act when 
it enacted the War Claims Act of 1948, legislation which provided 
compensation for U.S. citizens who were victims of the Japanese war 
effort during World War II. Because Guamanians were not U.S. citizens 
when the act was enacted, but were U.S. nationals, they were not 
eligible for compensation. Guamanians finally became U.S. citizens in 
1950 under the Organic Act of Guam.
  In 1962, there was another attempt by Congress to address the 
remaining U.S. citizens and nationals that had not received reparations 
from previous enacted laws. Once again, however, Guamanians were 
inadvertently made ineligible because policymakers assumed that the War 
Claims Act of 1948 included them. Thus, Guam was left out of the 1962 
act.
  The reason the legislation involves the U.S. government is because 
under the 1951 Treaty of Peace between the U.S. and Japan, the treaty 
effectively barred claims by U.S. citizens against Japan. As a 
consequence, the U.S. inherited these claims, which was acknowledged by 
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles when the issue was raised during 
consideration of the treaty before the Committee on Foreign Relations 
in 1952.
  My legislation does not provide compensation. It simply establishes a 
federal process to review the relevant historical facts and determine 
the eligible claimants, the eligibility requirements, and the total 
amount necessary for compensation arising from the Japanese occupation 
of Guam during World War II. Last year, the Congressional Budget Office 
estimated that the cost of my bill would be minimal and would not 
affect direct spending or receipts. Moreover, considering that the 
island of Guam had a small population of 22,290 during the nearly 3 
years of occupation during the war, and given the available territorial 
and federal records on this matter, I anticipate that

[[Page E50]]

any federal commission that is established under my bill would be able 
to complete its work expeditiously and provide the Congress with the 
necessary recommendations to resolve this longstanding issue in a 
timely fashion.

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