In the Philippines, on April 9, 1942, with troops weakened by disease and starvation, Major General Edward E. King surrendered to General Masaharu Homma. The Japanese army was not equipped physically or philosophically to deal with the 70,000 U.S. and Filipino soldiers.
The captives, who outnumbered their captors, were forced to march 160 kilometers north to camp O’Donnell. Prisoners were randomly beaten, denied food, and executed on the spot if they failed to cooperate or fell behind.
After Japan surrendered in 1945, Homma was convicted of war crimes by an allied commission and was executed on April 3, 1946.
My father was serving on Corregidor. He spent time in the Hell that was Cabanatuan, and then was transported in the hull of a freighter packed so full that many suffocated, to spend 3 ½ years in Mukden, Manchuria.
Dad wouldn’t speak of his experiences, but his comrades lived to tell of the unspeakable conditions and treatment they suffered as POWs. I highly recommend Hampton Sides book Ghost Soldiers to anyone who has the courage to learn about the brutality humanity is capable of.
Dad told us he survived his ordeal through his faith in God and in his country. What must he be thinking now? His own country is torturing prisoners, and the Supreme Court had to force President Bush to accept the Geneva Conventions for enemy combatants. The Armed Services Committee is debating the values my father suffered so to protect. Debating. America assumes itself to be the leader of the free world, the champion of liberty and human rights, and yet we have clearly abused prisoners, some of whom have been proven to be completely unconnected with terrorism.
Obviously terrorists don’t worry about the rights of their prisoners, nor do they respect innocent life. But we are supposed to be better than that; we are the moral example for the world. How can we win the hearts and minds of Muslims when we are becoming exactly like the despots and villains we are supposed to be fighting?
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3 comments:
This is one of the most powerful arguments I've read against the horrible actions of our current government. (As if anyone should even need to argue against the use of torture -- that alone is almost unbelievable.) What is our government thinking?
I'm so sorry I never got to know your dad. I think he would have been a great grandpa.
You would have loved Grandpa Jay as much as you loved Grandma Jean, and he would have loved you.
When I was concerned about my brother, Tom in Viet Nam, Daddy told about the Genvia convention and how want happened to him would not happen to Tom because of this Treaty. Now we find that our country is breaking this. We are not the good guys here anymore!
The best legacy my father gave was not to hate other cultures. Because their socity is so different than mine. When I was in college I had a good friend who was of Japanese desendence. She was welcomed in my family for the wonderful person she was.
Thanks again for you honor and good sense of value
Love.
Bobby
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