Overdue: Obama, Congress Must Recognize, Compensate Chamorros for WWII

Filed Under: Opinion, Editorials, Chamorro People, War Reparations, House Of Representatives May. 21, 2012

President Obama and members of Congress: You need to step up and rectify the longstanding wrong of the failure by the United States to recognize the brutality the Chamorro people endured during World War II and to compensate them and their survivors.


(Credit: AP)

The latest effort to get these Guamanians the war reparations they so justly deserve -- getting the proposed Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act included under the federal defense spending measure for 2013 -- was blocked by the Republican leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives' Rules Committee.

The measure was introduced by Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo, who's running for re-election this year. She and the Guam delegates before her have repeatedly tried to get war reparations, only to be rejected time and time again.

It's deplorable that more than seven decades after the Chamorro people were subjected by the Japanese military to forced labor, forced marches, concentration camps, rapes, beheadings and other brutalities, the United States still hasn't recognized that suffering.

The Chamorro people never gave up on the United States after Guam was invaded in 1941. They stayed loyal to the country, helping military personnel evade capture and keeping homemade American flags, knowing that their patriotism could cost them their lives.

It's tragic and shameful that the United States has repeatedly refused to recognize all the atrocities the Chamorro people endured, and their loyalty to their country.

In 1988, the United States finally apologized for the interment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, more than four decades after the fact. Eventually, more than $1.6 billion in reparations were paid out. It's been almost 78 years since Guam was liberated from the Japanese, and the Chamorro people continue to wait for America to recognize what they endured and to compensate them for it.

President Obama and members of Congress, the longer you wait to acknowledge the brave Chamorros who died during the Japanese occupation, those who lived through it and their survivors, fewer and fewer of them remain. Every time one of them passes away, the tragedy is compounded. Rectify this by finally recognizing their pain and suffering.

Source: http://www.guampdn.com/article/20120521/OPINION01/205210312/-1/NLETTER01/Overdue--Obama--Congress-must-recognize--compensate-Chamorros-for-WWII?source=nletter-news