[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16656]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    JAPANESE POW FRIENDSHIP PROGRAM

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to call 
attention to a group of our Nation's veterans who participated in a 
reconciliation program with the Japanese Government.
  From October 11 to October 19, nine veterans of the U.S. Army, U.S. 
Army Air Corps, and the U.S. Marines who fought bravely in the Pacific 
theater of World War II and were taken prisoner by Japanese forces 
traveled to Japan. They were guests of the Japanese Government on a 
trip of reconciliation and remembrance.
  Established in 2010, this was the sixth Japanese POW Friendship 
Program delegation. This program is sponsored by the Japanese Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs for World War II POWs from the United States, with 
Japan running similar friendship programs with Australia and Britain.
  More than 30,000 Allied troops were taken prisoner in Japan, many of 
them Americans who faced horrific ordeals. Today, 70 years following 
the end of World War II, this program reflects the journey of 
forgiveness and resolution between the United States and Japan, as our 
relationship has developed into one of the most critical in the region.
  I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the veterans who were 
members of this year's delegation: Joseph DeMott, a U.S. Army Air Corps 
veteran from Litiz, PA; Arthur Gruenberg, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran 
from Camano Island, WA; George Hirschkamp, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran 
from Sandpoint, ID; George Rodgers, a U.S. Army veteran from Lynchburg, 
VA; Jack Warner, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Elk City, OK; and 
Clifford Warren, a U.S. Army veteran from Shepherd, TX.
  I would also like to recognize three members of the delegation who 
are my constituents: Leland Chandler, a U.S. Army veteran from 
Galesburg, IL; William Chittenden, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from 
Wheaton, IL; and Carl Dyer, a U.S. Army veteran from Oglesby, IL.
  I am so grateful to all of these participants for their years of 
service to our Nation.
  The delegation was accompanied by Jan Thompson, another Illinois 
constituent and a documentary filmmaker and daughter of a World War II 
veteran who was himself a POW in Japan. Thompson also heads the 
nonprofit veterans organization American Defenders of Bataan & 
Corregidor Memorial Society.
  The Japanese POW Friendship Program and the American veterans who 
participate in it represent the transformation and strength of the 
U.S.-Japan relationship. I hope this program continues to bring 
together our two nations in remembrance and reconciliation.

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