[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 211 (Tuesday, December 7, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S8959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   NATIONAL PEARL HARBOR REMEMBRANCE DAY AND HONORING THE TANKERS OF 
                           MAYWOOD, ILLINOIS

  Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, I rise today on Pearl Harbor Day to 
remind my colleagues that on December 7, 1941, Imperial Japan attacked 
not only Pearl Harbor but also the Philippine Islands, Guam, Wake 
Island, Howland Island, Midway, Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, 
and Bangkok.
  In the Philippines that day, 89 men from Maywood, IL, who made up 
Company ``B'' of the 192nd Tank Battalion--federated National Guard 
units from Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Ohio--defended Clark 
Field from invading Japanese forces. They had arrived in the 
Philippines less than 3 weeks earlier.
  These Illinois tankers watched helplessly as Japan's modern planes 
flew beyond the reach of their guns and destroyed the airfield. They 
then fought valiantly on the Bataan Peninsula with antiquated weapons 
and dwindling supplies. Relief from the United States never came. 
Though they held out for months, the men, overcome with fatigue, 
starvation, and disease, were surrendered by their commanders on April 
9, 1942.
  What followed was the infamous Bataan Death March 100 miles up the 
peninsula to a makeshift prison camp. Thousands died. Maywood, a hamlet 
outside of Chicago, had the greatest number of men from any single 
American town on the Death March. They would not all make it home.
  Those who survived the initial march endured 3 and a half years of 
death camps, brutal forced labor, and unimaginable abuse. More than 
half the Americans taken prisoner on Bataan died before they could see 
the war's end. Of the 89 Maywood men of Company ``B'' who left the U.S. 
in 1941, only 43 returned home in 1945.
  For 79 years, Maywood has celebrated and remembered its heroes of 
Bataan with an annual September Memorial. Like many important 
celebrations in COVID, this was the second year that the memorial had 
to be postponed. But we do not forget the men of Maywood. From the 
Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Bridge in Chicago to Maywood's Bataan 
Memorial Park, my home State of Illinois recalls daily their sacrifice 
for liberty.
  As a retired member of the Illinois National Guard myself, today is a 
solemn day--a day that will forever live in infamy--when we are 
reminded of the sacrifices made and the brave lives lost in service to 
our Nation. I am proud to have served with my Illinois National Guard 
family and work to continue to bring respect, remembrance, and honor to 
such a strong legacy.
  Therefore, I ask my fellow Senators to join me on this 80th 
anniversary of Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and to remember 
the other Americans who fought and died throughout the Pacific that 
day. Although the aim of the December 7 surprise attack on Hawaii's 
Pearl Harbor was to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet in its home port and 
to discourage U.S. action in Asia, the other strikes served as preludes 
to full-scale invasion and brutal military occupation.
  I further ask my colleagues to join me in commending the hard work 
and dedication of Maywood Bataan Day Organization President Col. 
Richard A. McMahon, Jr., and his board of directors, as well as Ms. Jan 
Thompson, president of the Illinois-based American Defenders of Bataan 
and Corregidor Memorial Society, who are committed to honoring and 
preserving the history of the men and women of Bataan who gave so much 
in the fight against tyranny and fascism. They, too, are the part of 
the story of Pearl Harbor Day and in keeping the memory of the men of 
Maywood alive to this day.

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