[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 25, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S2533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

    SENATE RESOLUTION 138--HONORING NATIONAL FORMER PRISONER OF WAR 
     RECOGNITION DAY ON APRIL 9, 2017, AND COMMEMORATING THE 75TH 
                   ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF BATAAN

  Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Daines, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. 
Rubio, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Booker, Mr. Brown, Mr. Manchin, Mr. 
Sanders, Mr. Franken, Mr. Tester, and Mr. Blumenthal) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                              S. Res. 138

       Whereas, throughout United States history, United States 
     servicemen and servicewomen held as prisoners of war have 
     endured unimaginable cruelty and unspeakable treatment at the 
     hands of their captors in--
       (1) British prison ships floating in the harbor of New York 
     City;
       (2) tiger cages in North Vietnam;
       (3) coal mines in Omuta, Japan; and
       (4) mine shafts in Berga, Germany;
       Whereas many of these servicemen and servicewomen, while in 
     service to the United States, lost their lives as prisoners 
     of war under cruel and inhumane conditions;
       Whereas United States service members held as prisoners of 
     war have--
       (1) endured situations few people of the United States can 
     imagine; and
       (2) found courage in a darkness that other people of the 
     United States will hopefully never experience;
       Whereas National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day was 
     established to memorialize the surrender by General Edward P. 
     King of 80,000 United States and Filipino troops on the 
     Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, which led to--
       (1) the infamous Bataan Death March; and
       (2) nearly 4 years of brutal imprisonment and slave labor 
     for the survivors;
       Whereas, by May 10, 1942, over 11,500 soldiers from the 
     United States and the Philippines surrendered on Corregidor, 
     a fortress island in Manila Bay, and at various bases on 
     islands in the southern Philippines, which resulted in the 
     largest surrender of United States soldiers in United States 
     military history;
       Whereas, during World War II, over 26,000 prisoners of war 
     from the United States were held by Imperial Japan, of which 
     an estimated 40 percent died, and nearly \1/3\ of those 
     deaths occurred on ``hell ships'' that carried the prisoners 
     of war to Japan to become 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, in 2009, the Government of Japan offered an 
     apology to the United States prisoners of war for the damage 
     and suffering of the prisoners of war in Imperial Japan;
       Whereas, in 2010, the Government of Japan established a 
     program for former prisoners of war and their families to 
     visit Japan and the former prisoner of war camps; and
       Whereas the former prisoners of war who have participated 
     in the program described in the ninth whereas clause have 
     encouraged the Government of Japan to partner with Japanese 
     companies to continue the program as--
       (1) an international model of reconciliation; and
       (2) a permanent fund to support projects for remembrance, 
     documentation, education, and exchange: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) honors National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day 
     on April 9, 2017;
       (2) commemorates the 75th anniversary of the fall of Bataan 
     on April 9, 1942; and
       (3) applauds the efforts of the Government of Japan toward 
     a historic apology for the maltreatment of United States 
     prisoners of war by Imperial Japan.

                          ____________________