The Japanese government has finally admitted culpability with regards to the Korean women who were imprisoned by the Japanese and are considering reparations. The U.S. government has paid reparations to the Japanese-Americans who were imprisoned in the United States and have finally awarded veterans benefits to the Filipino soldiers who so valiantly fought along with Americans in the Philippines.
So now let us also remember thousands of American and Allied civilians interned in concentration camps throughout the Philippines by the Japanese for several years.Not only should the Japanese apologize to the people they imprisoned and often abused, but the United States should apologize and compensate those who survived the POW experience from 1941 to 1945.
Many of the civilians who lived and worked in the Philippines and were interned died prematurely because of the experience. Many have suffered through the years with untreated post-traumatic stress syndrome and physical health defects.
Younger survivors are now in their middle years and will face further health difficulties that back to the POW experience.
There needs to be help for these men and women who, while not service people, are no less veterans and heroes of the war. They believed every day of confinement that the good old United States would not forget them.
The American Ex-POW organization is trying to get compensation for those civilian POWs who survived the Japanese occupation in the Philippines.
Anna Grace Bellis
Salt Lake City