[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 61 (Thursday, April 26, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  THE COMMEMORATION OF THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. BRIAN P. BILBRAY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 26, 2012

  Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 70th 
Anniversary of the Bataan Death March and to recognize one of my 
constituents, Dr. Lester Tenney, who took part in that long and 
inhumane march. He and some 76,000 American and Filipino prisoners of 
war made the 65 mile march from Mariveles and Bagac in the Philippines 
to Camp O'Donnell and were eventually transported by Hell Ships to 
Japan during April of 1942.
  Dr. Tenney is a truly remarkable individual who has dedicated his 
life to serving his country and his community. When he was twenty years 
old, Lester joined the Illinois National Guard. His Battalion arrived 
in the Philippines on November 20, 1941. He was at Clark Field in the 
Philippines on December 8th when Japanese bombers and fighters attacked 
within hours of the Pearl Harbor assault.
  He was engaged in the first U.S. tank battle in World War II when his 
Battalion, the 192d Tank Battalion of the Illinois National Guard, was 
sent to the Lingayen Gulf on the Northern Philippine Island of Luzon 
where the Japanese forces landed on December 22, 1941. Overwhelmed by 
the invading Japanese forces, his tank company and all other U.S. 
troops on Luzon Island retreated into the Bataan Peninsula.
  Dr. Tenney became a POW of the Japanese when the U.S. forces on the 
Bataan Peninsula were surrendered on April 9, 1942. The already sick 
and starving troops were forced to walk 65 miles in sweltering heat 
with virtually no food and water in what later became known as the 
Bataan Death March (the March). He described his experience on the 
March: ``Day after day, on that march, I watched in utter helplessness 
as hundreds of my friends--many who had become brothers--were shot, 
bayoneted, decapitated, and in some cases buried alive. I listened to 
their cries, their last requests, and the unspeakable sadness that 
comes to a man when he realizes he will never again see his family.''
  Dr. Tenney suffered severe abuse while held in POW camps and was 
tortured when he tried to escape. He was transported to Japan on a 
``Hell Ship'' in September of 1942. Dr. Tenney worked as a slave in a 
Mitsui coal mine in Ohmuta, Japan until the end of the war in August 
1945. He, along with his fellow POW's, were often beaten by employees 
of Mitsui and received inadequate food and little medical care. Even as 
he was held in one of the worst POW camps in Japan where 138 POWs died, 
Dr. Tenney tried to lift the spirits of his fellow POWs by organizing 
and producing many variety shows as camp entertainment. Even the 
Japanese guards came to watch.
  For these shows Dr. Tenney received a special commendation award for 
his contribution to improving morale among his fellow POWs in addition 
to the Bronze Star with two oak-leaf clusters, the Purple Heart with 
two oak-leaf clusters, and other medals.
  It was not until 1995, when Dr. Tenney published his memoir My Hitch 
in Hell: The Bataan Death March, that he was finally able to revisit 
his POW experience. In this book, he vividly described his horrific 
experience during the March, in the POW camps in the Philippines, and 
in his three years of slave labor in the Mitsui coal mine. But he also 
wrote about a Japanese exchange student whom he and his wife hosted in 
the late 1960s, and whom he came to love like his own son. They were so 
close that when the matured student married, Dr. and Mrs. Tenney 
accompanied them on their honeymoon.
  Since his time as a POW in Japan, Dr. Tenney has worked to advance 
the cause of American POW's from all conflicts. He has testified 
repeatedly before Congress on POW issues. The peace treaty between the 
U.S. and Japan took away the rights of the individual POWs to sue for 
their very real damages. Later the State of California enacted 
legislation allowing the POWs to sue the Japanese companies who 
enslaved them. Dr. Tenney was the lead plaintiff in the first such 
suit. Unfortunately the U.S. State Department took a contrary position 
and supported the defendant companies; and the suit failed at the 
Supreme Court.
  Then Dr. Tenney turned to the Japanese government in the person of 
Ambassador Fujisaki. After several meetings with Dr. Tenney, the 
Ambassador received permission to attend the last reunion of the 
American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, the umbrella group of the 
Pacific POWs. Ambassador Fujisaki apologized to the group on behalf of 
the Japanese Government, the first time such a thing had happened. In 
2008 Dr. Tenney was able to achieve one of his goals of an official 
apology from the Japanese Government for the horrors of Bataan and 
World War II. He has also made repeated appearances at Japanese schools 
and universities, appearances in the Japanese media, and met with 
Japanese government officials to promote awareness and improve 
relations between the United States and Japan.
  In addition to his many years of efforts to preserve the history of 
American POWs of the Japanese during WWII and to reach out to the 
Japanese people to learn that history together, Dr. Tenney started a 
project which he named ``Care Packages from Home'' in 2007. He and 
friends in his retirement community in Carlsbad, California, have been 
sending gift packages to thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. Having received no package from home while he was a POW, 
Dr. Tenney is determined to make sure that today's troops never feel 
like have been forgotten.
  As of June of 2011, Dr. Tenney's Care Packages from Home has mailed 
11,350 packages and are sending 200 more every month. Maj. Gary 
Bourland, 39, a Marine who was on his fourth deployment said; ``It is 
the best feeling in the world opening up one of these packages,'' Dr. 
Tenney believes that basic necessities such as nail clippers, foot 
powder, socks and wet wipes, can ``make or break you out there.'' It 
also signals to our troops, many of whom are young and away from home 
for the first time that they are being remembered. Maj. Bourland also 
added, ``If they know the American people are supportive, my troops 
will walk through fire for them.''
  Dr. Tenney is here in Washington, DC this week to tell his story and 
commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Bataan Death March. His service 
to the United States of America is a model to us all and I am proud to 
call him my constituent and my friend.

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