WWII Veterans Don't Want History Edited

Japan’s views of WWII history rankles some US veterans 
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MATTHEW PENNINGTON
April 25, 2015

(AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)(Credit: AP)

Lester Tenney talks about the more than three years he spent in a Japanese prisoner of war camp Monday, April 20, 2015 in Carlsbad, Calif. Tenney endured three hellish years as a Japanese prisoner during World War II, but with the passing of decades and repeated visits, he’s made peace with his former enemy. Yet as Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares to address Congress next week, in the 70th anniversary year of the war’s end, something rankles the U.S. military veteran about Japan’s attitude toward its past. "They don’t want the young people to know what really happened,"says Tenney.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lester Tenney endured three hellish years as a Japanese prisoner during World War II, but with the passing of decades and repeated visits, he’s made peace with his former enemy. Yet as Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares to address Congress next week, in the 70th anniversary year of the war’s end, something rankles the U.S. military veteran about Japan’s attitude toward its past.

“They don’t want the young people to know what really happened,” complains Tenney, now 94.

The Associated Press spoke to three U.S. war veterans about their surrender in the Philippines in 1942 and their exploitation as slave laborers in Japan. It’s an episode of history most notorious for the Bataan Death March, when tens of thousands of Filipino and American prisoners of war were forced 65 miles on foot to prison camps. Thousands are believed to have perished.

The AP also asked the veterans for opinions about Japan today. The U.S.-allied nation issued a formal apology to American POWs in 2009 and again in 2010, and has paid for some veterans to travel to Japan, leaving them with a more positive view of the Japanese people.

All three veterans, however, remain adamant that their wartime experiences, and those of the POWs who didn’t make it, should not be forgotten.
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