1 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: Beat. If it doesn't work, you're just not using enough. 2 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:26,239 Speaker 1: You're listening to Software Radio Special Operations, military news and 3 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: straight talk with the guys in the community. Hello again, everyone, 4 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: Welcome back to Software Radio, Software Radio on Time on Target. 5 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,559 Speaker 1: I am your host this morning. Steve Al's jury joining 6 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: us very shortly. We're going to have a very special guest, 7 00:00:54,480 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: Mindy Cottler Smith. Mindy is a a very important member 8 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: of the I want to say this correctly, the American 9 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 1: Defenders of Batan and Corregador Memorial Society. And we're gonna 10 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: be talking about that. We're gonna be talking about a 11 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:21,040 Speaker 1: couple of things actually that had to do with po 12 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:25,959 Speaker 1: w's during that time frame. We're gonna look at you know, 13 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: everyone's very familiar with the Batan Death March, and we 14 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: all know all about that, but there was others that 15 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:38,399 Speaker 1: took place there weren't as possibly well known, I guess 16 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: you could say. So we're going to get into all that, um, 17 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 1: but before we do, I just need to read you 18 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: a really quick message from soft Rep. Soft Rep will 19 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: be giving away some brand new top of the line 20 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: smartphones as part of their third quarter sweep steaks running 21 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: from July first, to September thirty. If you're a member 22 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: of soft Rep, all you need to do is use 23 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: your special referral link to tell your friends, family, whoever 24 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,639 Speaker 1: about soft Rep. You'll taking points for every referral there 25 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: becomes a member, and the winner will be receiving his 26 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:21,079 Speaker 1: choice of either a brand new iPhone twelve one gigabytes 27 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:24,359 Speaker 1: or Samsung Galaxy S twenty one and Ultra five g 28 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 1: also gigabytes. So if you're not a member of soft 29 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,800 Speaker 1: Rep and you sign up for membership during the third quarter, 30 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,679 Speaker 1: you can simply sign in and start using your referral 31 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: link to participate. Plus, if you sign up during the 32 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:41,080 Speaker 1: third quarter, you automatically get entered into our new member 33 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,399 Speaker 1: sweep stakes for a chance to win and Emerson Commander 34 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,880 Speaker 1: knife and a sure Fire Led flashlight. So there's no 35 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: better time to join soft rep than right now. So 36 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,639 Speaker 1: with that being said, let's bring on our guests. Mindy, 37 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: thank you for taking the time this morning. We really 38 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: appreciate your uh, your patients with us and joining us 39 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: this morning. So welcome to software a Radio. Thank you 40 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: for having me and um, you did more or less 41 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:16,200 Speaker 1: pronucy correctly. If you're from the Philippines or we're Pow, 42 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: it's Baton. If you're from the New York metropolitan area, 43 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: it's Batan. Okay, I've heard both. I wasn't sure which 44 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: is the correct one, so we'll go with the Filipino. Yeah. 45 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:31,799 Speaker 1: I grew up on a farm in upstate New York, 46 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:38,760 Speaker 1: so I say things like coffee and Batan. Let's let's 47 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: talk about you know your organization first, UM, tell us 48 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: a little bit about the American Defenders of Baton in 49 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:52,120 Speaker 1: Corregador Memorials. It's a great organization. If you're interested in 50 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: World War Pacific theater, World War two history, and interested 51 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: in the American Pow Japan experience, this is the organization 52 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: to be a member of. It was founded in n 53 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: by a man by the name of Sam Moody from Lynn, Massachusetts. 54 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: He was on the Baton Death March, and he was 55 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: a slave laborer in a UH train factory in Japan, 56 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: which makes any train you go on in Boston or 57 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: New York or Chicago. They this company still exists and UM, 58 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: they have yet to apologize for torturing Mr Moody in 59 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:38,720 Speaker 1: the and at their factory. They made him stand and 60 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,720 Speaker 1: he has sort of a world record for standing for 61 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: about three and a half days at attention. He was 62 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: young and state, what can I say? And so he 63 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: found his ortization mainly for the POWs. So he understood 64 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: that only people who are pwes could really understand each other. 65 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: And for the first were two years, it was a 66 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: drink fest. It was three days of drunken whatever. And 67 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: then as they got older and sobered up and family 68 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 1: started becoming involved, the people started researching and trying to 69 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:19,160 Speaker 1: understand what had happened to the POWs. And also by 70 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:24,599 Speaker 1: the seventies, people understood what PTSD was. And every single 71 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:28,360 Speaker 1: POW that came back because of the torture they experienced, 72 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: that the privation that they experienced and the sheer inexplicable 73 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 1: in humanity that was inflicted upon them by the Japanese, 74 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: they all had severe to awful PTSD very the highest 75 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:46,479 Speaker 1: rate of suicide, though as I've told you, they didn't 76 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: call it suicide. Then it was an accident. It was 77 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 1: an accident that the training that the truck stalled on 78 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:59,159 Speaker 1: the railroad trucks, It was an accident that the rifle 79 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: went just happened to be pointing to his head. Um 80 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,200 Speaker 1: things like that, and in fact, UM, I'm sure some 81 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: of the listeners are from California. And it doesn't matter 82 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: how you feel about Governor Newsom, but his grandfather was 83 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:22,120 Speaker 1: a very disabled POW who became a very well known horticulturalist. 84 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: But one day in the seventies, he took a rifle 85 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:28,919 Speaker 1: and was going to kill his two twin daughters, of 86 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: which one became the mother of the Governor. And instead 87 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,039 Speaker 1: of killing his daughters, he killed himself in front of 88 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: them because he couldn't live with himself anymore. This was 89 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:46,440 Speaker 1: not an unusual story, how many now in it by 90 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:52,600 Speaker 1: nineteen By two thousand nine, the po ws were a 91 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: little too old and the families and descendants have taken 92 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: over and now it's more of a memorial society. We 93 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 1: also the last Pow commandant, UM negotiated with the Japanese 94 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: government with the help of the U. S Government to 95 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: finally get something the U. S Government had never done. 96 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: We never went to UH. The Japanese created UM a 97 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:25,240 Speaker 1: fund for reconciliation with amid many of its victims in 98 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 1: Asia and the POWs Uh and POWs but the only 99 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: POWs who got any any relationship to this where they 100 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: created research UH funds trips to Japan for reconciliation and conferences. 101 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: It was only for the British, the Australians and the Dutch. 102 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: The Americans were completely left out and the U. S. 103 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 1: Government did nothing for them. In fact, the U. S 104 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: Government has denied them funds, It fought against them being 105 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: able to sue for their wages they did as slave laborers, 106 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: and all the major Japanese companies UM and so it 107 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: wasn't until the Obama administration that they took this on 108 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: and they negotiate with the Japanese to start UM a 109 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: visitation program for xpows two for them and their families 110 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: to go back to Japan and actually be treated like 111 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:28,119 Speaker 1: royalty and UM. I have been told by a number 112 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:32,200 Speaker 1: of the POWs that after those trips they stopped the 113 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: night the nightmare stopped and now we're on children and 114 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: but children is is and this is what we have 115 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 1: to always explain to the children. Doesn't mean someone who's 116 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 1: twenty years old children me someone who's eight, eight seventy, Yeah, 117 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: exactly a children, right, But how many of we worked 118 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: with the government. We testify the Congress and we advocate 119 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: and we one of the main things we really want 120 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: is to get a Congressional Gold Medal, of which there 121 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:10,760 Speaker 1: is one incredibly bad bill in Congress being considered and 122 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:15,400 Speaker 1: one very good bill that we're trying to get more 123 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:20,719 Speaker 1: attention to. We'll come back to that. Okay, Sorry, you 124 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:24,079 Speaker 1: didn't get me off on a tangent. That's quite all right. 125 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:28,480 Speaker 1: I was trying to ask you how many of our 126 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: pow is from that error are still alive. Well, the 127 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:35,480 Speaker 1: short answer, we don't fully know, but I think the 128 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:39,079 Speaker 1: answer is more like around two. D Wow, that's not 129 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: very many. And we just lost one last week who 130 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: was a hundred and one from Minnesota, and uh it's 131 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 1: and then it's in fact we lost to one from 132 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:57,719 Speaker 1: Minnesota and one from I think he was from California. 133 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:00,840 Speaker 1: So it's a little A lot of the men came 134 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:05,719 Speaker 1: back and simply didn't want to talk about it, let 135 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:08,959 Speaker 1: alone join something. So there's a lot of people floating 136 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 1: out there who we're not We just don't know about. 137 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 1: So there's always people who appear right, And now let's 138 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:25,320 Speaker 1: let's just go back to that time in you know, everyone, 139 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:28,160 Speaker 1: like I said at the outside of the podcast, everyone 140 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,440 Speaker 1: knows about the Baton death March. You know it was 141 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:36,880 Speaker 1: sixty miles or so that that again is a bit 142 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 1: of a misnomer. There's a few things people don't know 143 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: where Baton is. It's in the Philippines. There's a there's Manila, 144 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: and there's a bay. And on one end of the 145 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:54,520 Speaker 1: bay is this peninsula in the middle of the bay. 146 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 1: Is this a series of fortress islands, of which the 147 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:01,360 Speaker 1: most famous is Corregator, which is in the Marine Corps 148 00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: anthem Baton. So when when Baton was surrendered, and this 149 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:12,320 Speaker 1: every pow who was on the Baton death March will 150 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 1: snap at you and say, I did not surrender. I 151 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:20,600 Speaker 1: was surrendered. They were told to to go to the 152 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: tip of the peninsula or at an midpoint, and start gathering, 153 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,280 Speaker 1: and they were to march up the peninsula to a 154 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:34,400 Speaker 1: train station. From the tip of Baton to this train 155 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:39,440 Speaker 1: station is sixty ruling miles. April is one of the 156 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: absolute hottest months in the Philippines, and that's saying a 157 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:48,439 Speaker 1: lot when it's hot all the time. And then from 158 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: the train stations about seventeen miles. In these box cars, 159 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,040 Speaker 1: which literally some of them, if you were to look 160 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:59,839 Speaker 1: at the Holocaust box cars in France, they literally the 161 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 1: same cars. Um. And so the men were packed into 162 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: these box cars a hundred these are very tiny box cars. Uh, 163 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:11,600 Speaker 1: they were packed a hundred at a time. Men. You 164 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:16,439 Speaker 1: can imagine the fifth the disentery, the waste, the vomit, 165 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:20,920 Speaker 1: and men died standing up. And then after they fell 166 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:23,600 Speaker 1: out of the boss cars, they had to march another 167 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: three miles. So all this is about eighty five miles. 168 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: But the but the best known is the sixty March, 169 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: but not everyone did. But it only felt like six 170 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 1: thousand miles because it was so horrific and we all 171 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,319 Speaker 1: know about that one, the one I wanted to I 172 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:52,280 Speaker 1: don't think people really understand how capricious and ill prepared 173 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 1: the Japanese were. And ill prepared is one thing, but 174 00:12:55,600 --> 00:13:01,199 Speaker 1: you another thing is the abject in humanity, nity, and cruelty, 175 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: and and just the wilfulness of and delight of killing 176 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:09,640 Speaker 1: people along the march. They would run over them with 177 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 1: tanks or trucks and leave them embedded in the road. 178 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:16,240 Speaker 1: If someone tried to get something to drink, they shot 179 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: him in the back of the head or they bayoneted him, 180 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: and they would make other POWs bury him alive. Um. 181 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: They took. There were two field hospitals, large field hospitals 182 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 1: at the beginning of the route. They made all the 183 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 1: prisoners to get out, no matter what condition. And they were, 184 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:37,040 Speaker 1: and that's how most of the Filipinos died. They were 185 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:40,960 Speaker 1: in no condition to march, let alone walk a half 186 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:46,439 Speaker 1: half a step, so they died. Um. They if he 187 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 1: were in a Japanese officer was in a trust, he 188 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:54,520 Speaker 1: just put out his sword and and the head someone. 189 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: They did not feed them for a day and a half. 190 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: They were hardly a water breaks. Uh. They take up 191 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:09,760 Speaker 1: about thinking disgusting him the name truck in the hottest 192 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:14,600 Speaker 1: possible way. I think you're there. They do not understand. 193 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 1: No one understands the atrocity enough. Um. And then not 194 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 1: everyone was another thing. Not everyone was on the Baton 195 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 1: dead point. People think if you were a pow Japan 196 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:28,760 Speaker 1: and you were in the Philippines, you were the Baton 197 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 1: death March. Where there's there's a few caveats to that one. 198 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:37,560 Speaker 1: There's about two thousand guys more or less jump into 199 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:41,400 Speaker 1: the bay and being all being young and stupid, and 200 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 1: you have to understand the bag has had sharks, had minds, 201 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 1: had all sorts of slips that were on fire and 202 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 1: blown up stuff all over the place. They swam or 203 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: floated to the three miles to Corregador. Curregador wasn't for 204 00:14:56,280 --> 00:15:00,360 Speaker 1: this island, which is where was the headquarters for the 205 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:04,800 Speaker 1: US forces from the Philippines. And they were on Pregator 206 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: with the Marines and co star pilot Hillary and anyone 207 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:12,480 Speaker 1: could get there. I'm good friends with a man who 208 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: was Army air car you know. Unfortunately, uh well, you 209 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:22,400 Speaker 1: have to understand when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor at 210 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:27,400 Speaker 1: the same time they bombed Philippines, they bombed Hong Kong, 211 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 1: they bomb Hallean Island, they bombed Wake Island, they bombed Guam, 212 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: they bombed Shanghai, and they bomb a part of Malaya. 213 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 1: So this wasn't it was. This was all out war 214 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 1: for the Japanese, and so and so so that all 215 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:50,800 Speaker 1: the airfields by December tenth were knocked out for all 216 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:54,000 Speaker 1: the air been and all the and also all the 217 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 1: navy yard was nack out. They all were sent to 218 00:15:56,680 --> 00:16:02,560 Speaker 1: Baton become provisional infantry on. So this Penelman jumped in 219 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: the water at the beginning of the March, and Twantomdor 220 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:09,080 Speaker 1: and fought with the Marines. So he was in the 221 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:16,760 Speaker 1: Air Corps arm the Army infantry on the marine car um. 222 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:20,800 Speaker 1: So I already got lost on what I was saying. 223 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 1: That's quite all right. It was a god awful situation, 224 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 1: has that. Yes, that's very very true, and which brings 225 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: us to the other death march that we mentioned at 226 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:39,960 Speaker 1: the outset um. This is one that you know. Honestly, 227 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 1: until I started corresponding with you, I was not aware of. 228 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 1: So inform our listeners a little bit about this one. Okay. Well, 229 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:54,720 Speaker 1: part of what I there knowing that there were American 230 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: and Filipino troops on the island of Cordet Craigador and 231 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 1: the other little islands near Agador, is understanding that troops 232 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:06,720 Speaker 1: weren't only on Baton, but they were throughout the Philippines, 233 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:11,760 Speaker 1: throughout other islands and other parts of the Philippines. And 234 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: one group was on an island which we know about 235 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: today as Menda now, which is a stronghold for um 236 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:25,399 Speaker 1: Muslim Filipinos and we we are quite a number of 237 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:29,399 Speaker 1: plantations there. We had an air field, we were building 238 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:32,880 Speaker 1: an air field. Uh, there are a number of things 239 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: going on, and we had a very sophisticated, very savvy 240 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: General Guy Fork in charge of the American Filipino troops 241 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: on Minda Now. He was told and Minda Now was 242 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:52,280 Speaker 1: like the last to surrender. One of the reasons um 243 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:58,640 Speaker 1: with Corregador. They felt that when Waynewright was surrendered his troops, 244 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: they said, well, you surrendering all the Philippines and he 245 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: said no, Uh, there's commanders all over the Philippines. And 246 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:08,240 Speaker 1: he says, well, you you get them to surrender, we 247 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:13,639 Speaker 1: kill everyone here. So he sent people out with a 248 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: Japanese officer to try to track these guys down and 249 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:21,480 Speaker 1: get them to surrender. Most a Guy Fort, who had 250 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: been spent basically a lifetime in the Philippines, new Minta 251 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 1: Now like the back of his hand, was practically amorrow, 252 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:37,359 Speaker 1: and most of his Filipino troops went into the jungle 253 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 1: to become UH guerrillas, and his troops were told his 254 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:46,800 Speaker 1: Americans were told, if they leave, we're gonna kill every 255 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 1: They will kill everyone in Corregador. So he, some of 256 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 1: the Filipinos and he were surrendered in um near a 257 00:18:56,040 --> 00:19:01,880 Speaker 1: lake uh in Minda Now, and they felt the Japanese 258 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:07,600 Speaker 1: felt the thing about the death marchers. There have been 259 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:13,200 Speaker 1: many throughout the Pacific. It was systemic. Um, the level 260 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: of cruelty was systemic, The level of incompetence was systemic 261 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:24,320 Speaker 1: in the sense that, yes, you can be disorganized, but 262 00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:27,360 Speaker 1: why do you have to be so cruel And this 263 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:30,359 Speaker 1: was where whether you were in the Andemate Islands, whether 264 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:34,240 Speaker 1: you were on Borneo, there's the very famous and docan 265 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,560 Speaker 1: death March where all of the people who started out 266 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:45,520 Speaker 1: only six survived. Um there. So this in Minta, now 267 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 1: they took the American troops were about three hundred or so, 268 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,960 Speaker 1: and they made they wired them together and they made 269 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:58,720 Speaker 1: them walk, which we think, miles, how cow hard can 270 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:03,800 Speaker 1: that be? Well, if if you stumble and they bayon 271 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,119 Speaker 1: at you, if you try to get something to drink, 272 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: they bayonet you. If you fall behind, they bayonet you. 273 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 1: The Filipinos were made to take their shoes off and 274 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,359 Speaker 1: they had to walk on the hot pavement. You have 275 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: to understand that it was incredibly hot. This is the tropics. 276 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:26,440 Speaker 1: So and like even with the death March, many of 277 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: the men made it, but they often they died at 278 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,240 Speaker 1: in droves once they got there. Something about achieving the goal, 279 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,680 Speaker 1: So what and what is significant about this? Men to 280 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:42,040 Speaker 1: now death March, which has actually a number of names. 281 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:46,959 Speaker 1: There were much less survivors, but it was one of 282 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: the sixteen war crimes that the Filipino prosecutors brought to 283 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:55,760 Speaker 1: the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. It was considered that grave, 284 00:20:55,960 --> 00:21:00,280 Speaker 1: that awful, that over the top that they raided that 285 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: with the Palawan massacre and the Baton death March. And 286 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:08,159 Speaker 1: if you don't know what the Palawan massacre is, and 287 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:12,920 Speaker 1: that's significant for today's foreign policy, American foreign policy. We 288 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:18,480 Speaker 1: have uh an agreement with the Filipinos uh and Enhanced 289 00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: Agreement to for defense and we're using an airfield on 290 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: this island, this beautiful island of Palawan. While this airfield 291 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:34,879 Speaker 1: was built by American POWs for the Japanese Army air 292 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:38,359 Speaker 1: air Air Corps. They didn't call in the corps or force. 293 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:43,439 Speaker 1: There was a Japanese Imperial Japanese Army airplanes. So this 294 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:48,960 Speaker 1: in with by hand. There were no no machinery. They 295 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:51,960 Speaker 1: had build this from the coral and it was hard, 296 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 1: it was horrible work. They are hardly fed. Um they 297 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:02,320 Speaker 1: were constantly in compree sicily tortured and so towards the 298 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:06,760 Speaker 1: end of when the airfield was finished. Uh. They left 299 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty guys there. This is in nineteen 300 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:18,000 Speaker 1: December nine. UM. The US was already coming to the Philippines. 301 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:23,320 Speaker 1: They had started approaching and landing on the Philippines in October. 302 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:28,399 Speaker 1: So the Japanese uh there there are some examples of it, 303 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,360 Speaker 1: but there was a kill all order out for all 304 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:35,640 Speaker 1: POWs from the Japanese. So what they did they had 305 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:41,640 Speaker 1: the POWs dig air raid trenches and so one day 306 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:47,359 Speaker 1: December fourteen, which should live in history, they told the 307 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,560 Speaker 1: men to get in the air raid trenches. They doused 308 00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:54,439 Speaker 1: them with airplane fuel like, lit them on fire and 309 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 1: machine gun them. And any guy who tried to crawl 310 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: out they shot machine or in some cases played with UM. 311 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:05,920 Speaker 1: Some of the po debts were smart enough when they 312 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:09,960 Speaker 1: were building the trench to feel something was wrong. And 313 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:14,679 Speaker 1: the field was on the side uh of the on 314 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:18,800 Speaker 1: a cliff of sorts, so they you could at one 315 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: end could actually push out the end to jump into 316 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:28,680 Speaker 1: the water. Eleven guys got out, uh, some in the water, 317 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:33,399 Speaker 1: some just hiding in the jungle. They were able to 318 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:37,280 Speaker 1: The Japanese found some of them and killed them. But 319 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: the level leven were able to get to across to 320 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:47,560 Speaker 1: some other part uh in the Palawan where there was 321 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:52,440 Speaker 1: a prison colony and there was also guerrillas. And when 322 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:57,080 Speaker 1: MacArthur heard about this, he realized he had to step 323 00:23:57,160 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 1: up the rescues. And so if you've seen the move 324 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:04,199 Speaker 1: The Great Raid where they liberate the Pow camp in 325 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:10,880 Speaker 1: January nine, the movie starts with the Palawan massacre, right, 326 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:16,080 Speaker 1: and yeah, one of the men who was rescued there 327 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,200 Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about in just a second, but 328 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:26,719 Speaker 1: I wanted to mention General Ford because General Ford was 329 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:31,320 Speaker 1: executed by the Japanese later in nineteen forty two, the 330 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:38,920 Speaker 1: only American born general officers would be executed during the war. Um. Now, 331 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,320 Speaker 1: that was because he wouldn't give up his men who 332 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:45,720 Speaker 1: had joined the gorillas. Is that that was exactly exactly. 333 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:50,439 Speaker 1: He was a very tough, stern, interesting fellow. They wanted 334 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:53,480 Speaker 1: him to go into the jungle and get his Filipinos 335 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: and any of the Americans back. He just was not 336 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:58,000 Speaker 1: going to do it. And also it wasn't going to 337 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:01,520 Speaker 1: happen even if he had of it, And so the 338 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:07,119 Speaker 1: Japanese killed him. They beheaded him. It was that simple. 339 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: It was that simple. For for the and and I 340 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:15,080 Speaker 1: see what people when the Japanese have said, well, these 341 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:21,600 Speaker 1: were just isolated incidentss this just happened. But wherever the 342 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:26,040 Speaker 1: Japanese went, whether it was a Northern China, whether it 343 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:28,919 Speaker 1: was an Aleutian Islands, I bet you didn't know. The 344 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:36,200 Speaker 1: Japanese invaded the US m uh. They beheaded, they tortured, 345 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: they humiliated, they starved the people around them. The Aleutian 346 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: Islands is the Battle of at Two. The Japanese and 347 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:49,120 Speaker 1: not also in nineteen forty two took over the island 348 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: of at Two and the of which there were forty 349 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:59,080 Speaker 1: two Allusian Elutes and two Americans, a husband and wife, 350 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,920 Speaker 1: a teacher in a other man. They took the weather 351 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 1: man and they shot him, and then they took the teacher, 352 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:09,560 Speaker 1: and she said that they asked, they tried to interrogate her, 353 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: and then eventually they dragged her dead husband's dead body 354 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 1: in front of her and then beheaded him in front 355 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:21,280 Speaker 1: of her. Then they took the the um native Americans 356 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:25,440 Speaker 1: to northern Japan, where they died in droves. Because they 357 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,720 Speaker 1: were forced to work, they couldn't eat the Japanese food. 358 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:33,640 Speaker 1: They were very subject to diseases um. The women were 359 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:38,240 Speaker 1: raped and the the American woman was taken to um 360 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,679 Speaker 1: near Tokyo and was eventually joined by a bunch of 361 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 1: Australian nurses and and they were not liberated until literally 362 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 1: MacArthur landed on Japan and the got the soldiers were 363 00:26:56,359 --> 00:26:58,359 Speaker 1: driving down the road and they saw a whole bunch 364 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:02,720 Speaker 1: of white women like we're dead. Come from h Well, 365 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:07,320 Speaker 1: I wanted to again, yeah, I wanted to switch up 366 00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 1: a little bit, um because one of the things that 367 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:16,000 Speaker 1: you also sent me when we started corresponding was about 368 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,879 Speaker 1: the first tank battle that was won by the United States. 369 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:22,399 Speaker 1: And again this was something I was not aware of. 370 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:25,639 Speaker 1: The first tank battle that the United States won and 371 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:31,280 Speaker 1: during the Second World War was in the Philippines. And 372 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 1: can you tell our listeners a little bit about this. Well, 373 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:39,480 Speaker 1: I am not very good on tank battles, but there 374 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:44,520 Speaker 1: were two big, important tank battalions that arrived in the 375 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:51,000 Speaker 1: Philippines in in late November nineteen forty one, so they 376 00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:55,959 Speaker 1: were about basically in the Philippines for a week before 377 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,879 Speaker 1: the war started. The first shots to be fired really 378 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: World War two were from one of these tank battalions. Uh, 379 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:09,520 Speaker 1: they so you had the hundred uh and then h 380 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 1: and part of this tank battalion. Interestingly enough, um I 381 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:21,760 Speaker 1: really can't give you that they were to cover the 382 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:26,399 Speaker 1: some people call it retreat. MacArthur would say it was 383 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: a withdrawal of US forces on the island and Lasan 384 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:36,119 Speaker 1: into Baton, which they felt they could defend better. Uh 385 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:40,800 Speaker 1: then just scattered throughout the island and so they covered 386 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:45,640 Speaker 1: the the withdrawal and in one of the cases they 387 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:49,640 Speaker 1: had at all out tank battle with the Japanese very 388 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:54,280 Speaker 1: early on and they won it. And it's pretty shocking, 389 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 1: but not shocking, but impressive and amazing. And one of 390 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 1: the tankers into thing enough was that name a guy 391 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:07,080 Speaker 1: called John Robinette. And wherever we heard that name before, well, 392 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:12,160 Speaker 1: it turns out he is related to President Biden, and 393 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: he is sort of six cousin once removed, but it 394 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 1: is the family through his father. Uh He he clearly fought, 395 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 1: very courageously, clearly suffered, and they reached the withdrawal down Braton, 396 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 1: and he went through the Baton death March and he 397 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: died in November two of berry Berry. The conditions in 398 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:43,640 Speaker 1: these these were makeshift last minute pow km't with no 399 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 1: water no medical care, no food. It as grim as 400 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:54,520 Speaker 1: you can imagine. And there were points at these Pow 401 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:59,120 Speaker 1: camps where people three hundred four hundred a day, We're dying. 402 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,600 Speaker 1: But he he died in November at Kabana Tuan and 403 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:09,040 Speaker 1: he Uh was able after the war, his body was 404 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 1: able to be identified and retrieved and he was buried 405 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:17,360 Speaker 1: back home. There is a whole huge effort to um 406 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,920 Speaker 1: tried to identify many of the unknowns from the Kabana 407 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: to One Pow camp Uh, and that's becoming quite successful 408 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:30,600 Speaker 1: now that we have DNA. Yeah, and I was reading 409 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 1: about after you know, we were corresponding back and forth 410 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 1: about this tank battle and yeah, it was tell me better, 411 00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 1: you know, I'm most interested in the humanity and sociology 412 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:49,000 Speaker 1: of how how did such an as they say in 413 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 1: the history clusterfuck happened. Yeah. Well, in one of the 414 00:30:55,080 --> 00:31:00,120 Speaker 1: tankers who was considered a hero at the time. UM. 415 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:03,200 Speaker 1: You know, his name was Gentry and he was later 416 00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 1: liberated at Kabana Tuan during the raid by the U. S. 417 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:11,200 Speaker 1: Army Rangers. And if he was at Kabana Tuan when 418 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 1: the Great Raid, those were the five guys that were 419 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:20,200 Speaker 1: too sick and firm just they could not transport to Japan. 420 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: The Japanese tried to get everyone who was on the Philippines, 421 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:28,720 Speaker 1: particularly the officers, to Japan. There's some thinking and that 422 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:31,640 Speaker 1: this was to create a hostage situation. But so because 423 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,560 Speaker 1: so many documents were destroyed by the Japanese, we don't 424 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,840 Speaker 1: know for sure. Uh So he must have been in 425 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:46,080 Speaker 1: pretty bad shape. Uh In. In Januar, my own uh 426 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 1: descent relative was on Corregador with the Army Corps of 427 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:54,280 Speaker 1: Engineers and he actually and he was older because he 428 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:58,320 Speaker 1: was a mining engineer on the Philippines and enlisted or 429 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:03,480 Speaker 1: whatever started when when the war started, and he died 430 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:11,160 Speaker 1: of pick a disease because just before liberation in January. 431 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: Oh well, he didn't make it and he's buried in 432 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:25,520 Speaker 1: the Philippines. Now you mentioned earlier about you know there 433 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:29,840 Speaker 1: there's what we were talking offline, but you mentioned there's 434 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:34,000 Speaker 1: a lot of revisionist history going on with the Japanese 435 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: in regards to POWs, in the way they treated civilian internees, 436 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:46,680 Speaker 1: not only Americans, Australians, New Zealanders, British subjects, Chinese and 437 00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:50,320 Speaker 1: I know and some of the information you sent me 438 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:57,160 Speaker 1: the Tokyo Information Center that one of their coal mines 439 00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:00,200 Speaker 1: where the largest. I guess it was the largest one. 440 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:05,200 Speaker 1: Who largest call mine in Japan? Yes, and it's now 441 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:13,800 Speaker 1: considered um what a World Industrial Heritage site the Japanese 442 00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:17,200 Speaker 1: since the Abbe administration starting in two thousand seven, he 443 00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:19,880 Speaker 1: had one year term and then he came back in 444 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:24,280 Speaker 1: the end of two thousand and twelve. His he believes 445 00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:28,000 Speaker 1: and his everyone around him believes that there's been a 446 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:33,040 Speaker 1: masochistic telling of Japanese history, that Japanese history should be 447 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:36,720 Speaker 1: more glorious. That they were literally tricked into the war 448 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:40,640 Speaker 1: by the US. The US has exaggerated the stories of 449 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 1: the war crimes and the atrocities. A lot of these 450 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:48,800 Speaker 1: things didn't happen. That the people we know as comfort 451 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:51,920 Speaker 1: women were just a bunch of lying horrors, and they 452 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:56,240 Speaker 1: only Korean lying horrors. When the reality with the comfort women, 453 00:33:56,880 --> 00:34:01,640 Speaker 1: they were not only were they trafficked Korean, Japanese and 454 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:06,000 Speaker 1: Taiwanese and Chinese women, but when the traffic women were 455 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:11,840 Speaker 1: not enough, they went local. They either grabbed them or 456 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:16,680 Speaker 1: bought them. And that was everywhere. Uh, and you know Sean. 457 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:19,239 Speaker 1: And when they say that the military had nothing to 458 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:24,160 Speaker 1: do with it. If you were Japanese, the young lieutenant paymaster, 459 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:29,840 Speaker 1: you literally were trained, trained how to set up a brothel, 460 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:34,040 Speaker 1: and how to manage a brothel, and how to recruit 461 00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:39,040 Speaker 1: or obtain women, and that as you can well imagine 462 00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:44,319 Speaker 1: warps into an issue of entitlement. So you have a situation, 463 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:51,160 Speaker 1: uh in the internment camps, whether they're in the Philippines 464 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:56,000 Speaker 1: or in Japan, or in China, or in the Dutch. 465 00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,000 Speaker 1: And the Dutch is the only one where anyone has 466 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:01,160 Speaker 1: admitted where the Japanese just drive in and says, I 467 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:03,680 Speaker 1: tell you, let's line up all the twenty one years 468 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,120 Speaker 1: nine twenty one year old girls and I'll pick one 469 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:09,239 Speaker 1: of those. I'll pick one of these, one of that. 470 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,400 Speaker 1: I like that one. It was. It was a nightmare. 471 00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 1: And with the American Civilian interman camps, the women will 472 00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:21,520 Speaker 1: tell you you have to understand this is the so well, 473 00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:26,080 Speaker 1: nothing happened. But if you were asking the question, how 474 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:28,799 Speaker 1: did you get the quay nine, how did you get 475 00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:35,920 Speaker 1: the food the milk for the child, Well, it's a transaction. Uh. 476 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:40,720 Speaker 1: And then with the POWs uh and with the other atrocities, 477 00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:44,120 Speaker 1: they just gloss over them and the most in nineteen 478 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:48,320 Speaker 1: and two thousand fifteen, the Japanese applied for the Beiji 479 00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:54,040 Speaker 1: Industrial Heritage Sites where supposedly Japan industrialized before the rest 480 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:58,880 Speaker 1: of Asia, and they create they acquired machinery and a 481 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:03,760 Speaker 1: completely gloss o where that industrialization is about labor. And 482 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:10,840 Speaker 1: these sites, which was coal mines, foundries, docks, is very 483 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:16,240 Speaker 1: sort of random and it's just bad history. Um many 484 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: of them were where there were prisoners of war and 485 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:23,680 Speaker 1: at these so they've made these sites. They have an 486 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:28,719 Speaker 1: information center in Tokyo. There is no mention of the 487 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:31,680 Speaker 1: prisoners of war who were at these sites and who 488 00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:36,880 Speaker 1: were slaved and had forced to mind coal stoked. The 489 00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:41,440 Speaker 1: steel mills were capriciously tortured and and none of them 490 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:44,279 Speaker 1: were There was a policy not to feed them, and 491 00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:48,439 Speaker 1: there was also a policy to withhold the across boxes, 492 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:51,560 Speaker 1: so medicine didn't get to the doctor's, food didn't get 493 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:55,760 Speaker 1: to the POWs. It was a strange policy. It wasn't 494 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,880 Speaker 1: and what it was interesting again, its systemic. It wasn't 495 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:02,360 Speaker 1: just one pow camp. So this coal mine, the Meeky 496 00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:06,440 Speaker 1: coal Mine, which was owned by Mitsui, and for whatever reason, 497 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,759 Speaker 1: Baron Mitsui lived near there and not only did he 498 00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:24,040 Speaker 1: allowed as horrific tortrait of Australian, British, American, Dutch, Norwegian, Malta, Czechoslovakian, Saudi, Arabian, 499 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:28,120 Speaker 1: all kinds of people, because they also took over merchant 500 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:32,080 Speaker 1: marine ships, so they didn't care if you were Irish. 501 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:35,600 Speaker 1: You're in the Europeo debut as far as they were concerned. 502 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:40,480 Speaker 1: So Baron Mitsui would like to like to motor into 503 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,439 Speaker 1: his mind to look at his white slaves, and that's 504 00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:48,560 Speaker 1: how he called them. And he eventually arranged for some 505 00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:51,960 Speaker 1: costumes for some of the POWs who are a bit 506 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:55,719 Speaker 1: more talkative, so he could go and watch little plays. 507 00:37:55,920 --> 00:38:03,080 Speaker 1: It was just totally revolting and insulting. Uh um And 508 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:07,440 Speaker 1: and the meeky mind was across a lake, so to speak, 509 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:10,719 Speaker 1: from where Nagasaki was and if the men were the 510 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:16,239 Speaker 1: men who were above ground when Nagasaki was bombed actually 511 00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:20,160 Speaker 1: saw the cloud and could feel the heat. It's an 512 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:26,600 Speaker 1: extraordinary experience. But they weren't liberated. A liberation team did 513 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:31,840 Speaker 1: not appear until September, so it took a long time. 514 00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:35,960 Speaker 1: So in the end of August we started sending over 515 00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:43,080 Speaker 1: um air drops. But this mine was the largest, and 516 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:47,920 Speaker 1: they would put the POWs in the mind cavities that 517 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:52,520 Speaker 1: had been closed, that were old, that were the most dangerous, 518 00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:57,960 Speaker 1: most capable, most going to fall down. Men were so 519 00:39:00,239 --> 00:39:02,960 Speaker 1: adverse to working in the mind that they would that 520 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:06,840 Speaker 1: there was a group of guys who were professional bone 521 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:12,360 Speaker 1: breakers that for five bowls of your rice for dinner, 522 00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,919 Speaker 1: you would only get one bowl. You could get your 523 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,719 Speaker 1: arm broken or your leg broken, and that would keep 524 00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:21,040 Speaker 1: you out of the mind for a few days. You 525 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:25,000 Speaker 1: have to stand that the different tiers wherever the mind 526 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:29,600 Speaker 1: shaft was, uh, it was either very cold or incredibly 527 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:33,640 Speaker 1: hot because it was deep into the earth and it 528 00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:40,200 Speaker 1: was under the lake, so you're often working in um water. 529 00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:44,600 Speaker 1: It was horrific situation. And none of these POWs had 530 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:47,319 Speaker 1: been in the mind before. Imagine what that did to 531 00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:52,080 Speaker 1: you psychologically. Uh. And then if you're not fed and 532 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:55,080 Speaker 1: you don't have vitamins and you're not getting medical care. 533 00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:02,440 Speaker 1: It was a hellhole. And which um, let's let's switch 534 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:06,840 Speaker 1: up a little bit one more thing. So the Japanese 535 00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:11,120 Speaker 1: have we have completely wrote out this history, and it 536 00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:18,040 Speaker 1: was all about happy smiling coal miners uh or steel workers, 537 00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:22,600 Speaker 1: and you know with coal the first miners in Japan 538 00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:28,719 Speaker 1: were convicts. The next was poor, poor, landless Japanese. And 539 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:34,560 Speaker 1: they're what of Japanese coal miners were women until nineteen 540 00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 1: thirty and then even after because you can get around 541 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:43,200 Speaker 1: rules and regulations. And one of the big pushes for 542 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:46,960 Speaker 1: this UNESCO and this is something and and and the 543 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:51,120 Speaker 1: Japanese rewriting a history. Japan is probably the only country 544 00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:56,279 Speaker 1: in the world that had a cabinet official completely focused 545 00:40:56,600 --> 00:41:02,600 Speaker 1: on getting these UNESCO World Heritage Sites and history rewritten 546 00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:06,280 Speaker 1: the way they wanted. They literally had a cabinet official 547 00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:11,200 Speaker 1: for UNESCO and rewriting of history, and that they do 548 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:14,920 Speaker 1: not have one now that person has really has resigned, 549 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:20,400 Speaker 1: but as part of managing these these industrial heritage sites, 550 00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:23,680 Speaker 1: and this head of the Tokyo Information Center, and it 551 00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:28,920 Speaker 1: just so happens that she's very close to the Abbe government, 552 00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:32,320 Speaker 1: and she is the sister in law of the Chief 553 00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:40,440 Speaker 1: Cabinet Secretary. So it is just it's it's nepotism, it's gratuitous, 554 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:44,759 Speaker 1: it's arrogance, and it's very dangerous when you start to 555 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:52,040 Speaker 1: rewrite history. That is a condemnation of democracy and free thought. Well, 556 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:56,080 Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about now this the work 557 00:41:56,120 --> 00:42:01,920 Speaker 1: behind the scenes about getting a Congressional gold Men for POWs. 558 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:06,719 Speaker 1: I know when we talked offline, you said, there's there's 559 00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:09,120 Speaker 1: some good ones out there and there's some bad ones 560 00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:14,680 Speaker 1: out there. Uh. Filling their listeners about this. This is 561 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:19,960 Speaker 1: a conundrum, um. For for many years we have been 562 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:24,800 Speaker 1: trying to get a Congressional gold Medal for the American 563 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:30,200 Speaker 1: powts Japan and doing it collectively for all the POWs, 564 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:34,040 Speaker 1: whether you are China marine surrendered on the first day 565 00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:37,359 Speaker 1: of the war, or you're a Wake Island marine. And 566 00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:39,440 Speaker 1: those of you who know the story of Wake Island 567 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:44,239 Speaker 1: four Hunter Marines uh fended off Japanese armada for two 568 00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:49,520 Speaker 1: weeks and eventually when they surrendered, um uh, they were 569 00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:53,920 Speaker 1: sent to northern China to work in the northern that 570 00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:57,880 Speaker 1: northern China, northern Japan to work in the coal mines. 571 00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:02,040 Speaker 1: And of course five guys we're taken aside on the 572 00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:06,320 Speaker 1: trip up to Japan beheaded and kicked into the water. Um. 573 00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:10,480 Speaker 1: To the the Texas battalion that was sent to Java 574 00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:15,200 Speaker 1: and was captured on Java. To the American nurses on baton, 575 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:21,000 Speaker 1: there's there's twenty seven thousand American powts in various situations 576 00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:26,040 Speaker 1: from the aviators onto the Baton Death March. Guys. But 577 00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:32,120 Speaker 1: the New Mexico delegation um always every Congress, and if 578 00:43:32,160 --> 00:43:34,839 Speaker 1: you don't know what Congress is, only two years. The 579 00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:39,359 Speaker 1: legislation is only active for two years. Every Congress introduces 580 00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:45,520 Speaker 1: legislation only focused to the the two units from New Mexico, 581 00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:48,880 Speaker 1: the coast artillery units, and they try to make it 582 00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:54,759 Speaker 1: so narrow that only as best the people for that 583 00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:57,360 Speaker 1: were in the Coast Artillery units that are on the 584 00:43:57,400 --> 00:44:01,680 Speaker 1: Baton Death March would be getting the medal. Well, that's 585 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:06,279 Speaker 1: ridiculous that that ignores, And so they wind it a 586 00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:08,800 Speaker 1: little bit for the and they say, now the two 587 00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:15,359 Speaker 1: tank units and maybe some other people. Well, a, that 588 00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:19,880 Speaker 1: bill that they have introduced is riddled with historical inaccuracies. 589 00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:24,200 Speaker 1: And guy Fort wouldn't get a pow medal, his family 590 00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:27,360 Speaker 1: wouldn't get one. My guy who jumped into the water 591 00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:32,840 Speaker 1: and swamm to Grega Or would not get a pow metal. Uh. 592 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:36,840 Speaker 1: I mean the eight years that that got beheaded on 593 00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:40,120 Speaker 1: the deck of the ships during the Battle of Mill 594 00:44:40,600 --> 00:44:45,560 Speaker 1: Midway wouldn't get a po W metal. That the commander 595 00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:49,480 Speaker 1: of the Wake Island Marines wouldn't get appear. That's just ridiculous, 596 00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:54,240 Speaker 1: that's just wrong, that's just un American. And then there's 597 00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:59,719 Speaker 1: another bill, which, to be quite honest, I wrote that 598 00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:07,000 Speaker 1: Congressman Boost and low Enthal have introduced Well, there's problems 599 00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:09,759 Speaker 1: with that. You have to have a bill in the 600 00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:12,680 Speaker 1: House in the Senate. The New Mexico delegation has a 601 00:45:12,719 --> 00:45:15,520 Speaker 1: bill in the House and the Senate the Boost bill. 602 00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:18,920 Speaker 1: I don't know what he's doing. He didn't tell us 603 00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:23,880 Speaker 1: he was going to introduce it. And Boost, you know, 604 00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:28,719 Speaker 1: there's everything is its politics, but not in an exactly 605 00:45:28,840 --> 00:45:32,680 Speaker 1: bad way. But you have to understand the House is democratic, 606 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:37,719 Speaker 1: and you can't have a lead co sponsor lead sponsor 607 00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:41,080 Speaker 1: being a Republican. It doesn't matter if it's a good guy, 608 00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:45,600 Speaker 1: bad guy, what guy it's it's just that's the dynamic. 609 00:45:46,719 --> 00:45:51,040 Speaker 1: And so I'm we don't have a lobbyist. We just 610 00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:54,719 Speaker 1: have volunteers. I need more volunteers. I need people who 611 00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:58,200 Speaker 1: will contact their members of Congress. I write these little 612 00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:04,760 Speaker 1: uh email saying, you know, don't support this or support that. Uh. 613 00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:07,600 Speaker 1: I'm trying to get these and we don't have much 614 00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:10,640 Speaker 1: time in all reality, I think this is the last 615 00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:14,919 Speaker 1: literally this year would maybe any living POW is left 616 00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:18,000 Speaker 1: to accept the medal. And when one of the strange 617 00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:21,319 Speaker 1: ionies in this is a number of years ago the 618 00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:26,760 Speaker 1: Filipino veterans were able to get a Congressional Gold medal 619 00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:31,320 Speaker 1: because as an ethnic group, as a solid ethnic group, 620 00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:36,160 Speaker 1: and so anyone who served during the war I would 621 00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:39,800 Speaker 1: be eligible for the gold medal. So but the problem 622 00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:45,880 Speaker 1: with that is not though many Filipinos can say they served, 623 00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:49,640 Speaker 1: a lot of them didn't in the end, because this 624 00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:53,319 Speaker 1: was all thrown the Filipino Army was thrown together and 625 00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:56,879 Speaker 1: the last in a few months leading up to the war. 626 00:46:57,360 --> 00:47:01,279 Speaker 1: They were never given guns, they were were trained, they 627 00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:06,240 Speaker 1: never did anything, and awful lot of Filipinos were able 628 00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:10,279 Speaker 1: to blend back into them jungle and become guerrillas or 629 00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:16,560 Speaker 1: become collaborators. Uh. And so this bill, interestingly enough, is 630 00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:21,880 Speaker 1: the Filipinos that have interpreted as they're giving it to 631 00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:27,120 Speaker 1: people who Americans who were on the Philips, who who 632 00:47:27,160 --> 00:47:30,319 Speaker 1: were POWs on the Philippines. Though the intent of the 633 00:47:30,440 --> 00:47:35,200 Speaker 1: legislation is just for the Filipino units, all the Filipino 634 00:47:35,360 --> 00:47:41,680 Speaker 1: units had American officers. So technically only the American officers 635 00:47:41,719 --> 00:47:44,640 Speaker 1: to the Filipino units and members of the Filipino units 636 00:47:44,680 --> 00:47:48,680 Speaker 1: to get it. But there's another glitch, like because most 637 00:47:48,680 --> 00:47:52,680 Speaker 1: people don't sweat the details, particularly this long ago, far 638 00:47:52,719 --> 00:47:56,840 Speaker 1: away stuff. So the bill is written it's for the 639 00:47:56,880 --> 00:48:02,840 Speaker 1: American Armed Forces of the Far East. Well, there was 640 00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:10,320 Speaker 1: never any American Armed Forces of the Far East. Um, 641 00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:16,160 Speaker 1: the Secretary Stimpson did not like MacArthur. A lot of 642 00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:20,560 Speaker 1: people didn't like MacArthur, and the Navy particularly disliked MacArthur. 643 00:48:20,800 --> 00:48:24,640 Speaker 1: So they were not going to give them control over all. 644 00:48:24,719 --> 00:48:27,360 Speaker 1: The Armed Forces of the Far East not gonna happen. 645 00:48:27,880 --> 00:48:32,840 Speaker 1: So the correct designation is the American Army Forces of 646 00:48:32,880 --> 00:48:38,400 Speaker 1: the Far East. So that Filipino Bill, if you examine it, 647 00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:43,680 Speaker 1: it's for nobody that doesn't exist. So there's been a 648 00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:48,279 Speaker 1: lot of Shendanigan's with the Filipino Bill. But now we 649 00:48:48,360 --> 00:48:55,000 Speaker 1: have this Heinrich, Senator Heinrich bill. It's just insulting. It's 650 00:48:55,160 --> 00:49:01,800 Speaker 1: literally insulting. Uh. And it's it's it means the sacrifices 651 00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:05,640 Speaker 1: of these men, and the herorism of these men, and 652 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:09,960 Speaker 1: the internal strength of these men, and and the other thing. 653 00:49:10,160 --> 00:49:13,239 Speaker 1: It's women that the women are cut out of the 654 00:49:13,360 --> 00:49:17,640 Speaker 1: Hindrich Bill. The first women to become prisoners of war 655 00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:21,799 Speaker 1: in a combat situation was in the Philippines, and those 656 00:49:21,840 --> 00:49:25,719 Speaker 1: are the army nurses. Um. They were also nurses in 657 00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:31,160 Speaker 1: on Guam. Guam was was the Japanese took over Guam 658 00:49:31,239 --> 00:49:35,879 Speaker 1: on December tenth, and so there were POWs men and 659 00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:41,799 Speaker 1: women uh on Guam. And then there's the Philippines so 660 00:49:42,560 --> 00:49:46,120 Speaker 1: and one of the other. And with the New Mexico 661 00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:49,839 Speaker 1: they really want to focus on the Hispanic group from 662 00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:52,359 Speaker 1: New Mexico, which is fine. But one of the most 663 00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:57,080 Speaker 1: interesting things about the POWs of Japan is incredibly diverse 664 00:49:57,200 --> 00:50:03,239 Speaker 1: group there. It wasn't just why men. There were Native Americans, 665 00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:07,799 Speaker 1: there were Chinese Americans, there were Japanese Americans, there were 666 00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:15,000 Speaker 1: Black Americans, there were there were Korean Americans. There there 667 00:50:15,040 --> 00:50:23,680 Speaker 1: were um as I said, the Alaskan Natives, Uh, Native Americans. Uh. 668 00:50:23,719 --> 00:50:29,720 Speaker 1: Every ethnic group and religion was represented. The Later day Saints, 669 00:50:29,719 --> 00:50:32,920 Speaker 1: the Mormon's actually had a whole group in the Kabbata 670 00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:38,600 Speaker 1: Tuan Pow camp and tried to maintain a unity for 671 00:50:38,719 --> 00:50:42,120 Speaker 1: as long as they could stay alive. Uh. There was 672 00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:49,480 Speaker 1: a famous Um Jewish UH soldier who had trained in 673 00:50:49,680 --> 00:50:54,920 Speaker 1: Russia to be a cantor, who became a religious leader 674 00:50:55,080 --> 00:50:58,520 Speaker 1: in the Kabana Tuan Pow camp and he died on 675 00:50:58,600 --> 00:51:04,080 Speaker 1: a hell ship. UM. So we need something that represents 676 00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:12,759 Speaker 1: all Americans and all POWs. Well, ums a little bit 677 00:51:12,840 --> 00:51:17,040 Speaker 1: about how they can help out your organization and how 678 00:51:17,080 --> 00:51:20,800 Speaker 1: they can maybe donate to the cause or well volunteer 679 00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:23,960 Speaker 1: their time. If you look up American Defenders at Batan 680 00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:29,360 Speaker 1: and Corregular Memorial Society, Uh, there is a donation page. Uh, 681 00:51:29,560 --> 00:51:34,200 Speaker 1: maybe we can and then I have a blog and 682 00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:37,160 Speaker 1: they can donate there. I would like people, if they're 683 00:51:37,160 --> 00:51:40,640 Speaker 1: interested in helping with the congressional effort, to contact me 684 00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:45,799 Speaker 1: directly and I will try to see I need all 685 00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:48,799 Speaker 1: the help from someone who's willing to write letters to 686 00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:51,880 Speaker 1: who people who have donated to the congressman so you 687 00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:56,839 Speaker 1: can harass them, you know. I think like Jamesville, Wisconsin, 688 00:51:57,000 --> 00:52:01,480 Speaker 1: that congressman should be front and say that very famous 689 00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:06,839 Speaker 1: tank tank group from there, McConnell Harrod's Harrisburg, Kentucky. So 690 00:52:07,080 --> 00:52:09,360 Speaker 1: I don't know how you can get out there my 691 00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:14,399 Speaker 1: email or are or or the website or the two 692 00:52:14,480 --> 00:52:17,120 Speaker 1: websites I would like to put out there. How can 693 00:52:17,160 --> 00:52:22,279 Speaker 1: we do that? Well, uh, if it's all right with you, 694 00:52:22,440 --> 00:52:28,520 Speaker 1: I will share your email with everybody because, um, you know, 695 00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:32,160 Speaker 1: I think this is something um that people can get 696 00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:35,200 Speaker 1: involved with. And if you're interested in emailing Mindy, it's 697 00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:40,000 Speaker 1: Mindy Cottler Smith all one word, all lower case at 698 00:52:40,040 --> 00:52:44,279 Speaker 1: gmail dot com. You can though is spelled with a 699 00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:51,640 Speaker 1: K and oh, a T and L E R and Smith. 700 00:52:51,680 --> 00:52:57,600 Speaker 1: Well you know that's Smith. I rarely say am Mrs 701 00:52:57,600 --> 00:53:01,840 Speaker 1: Smith because no one would believe me. So that doesn't 702 00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:07,040 Speaker 1: make my mother in law happy, then not much I 703 00:53:07,120 --> 00:53:11,920 Speaker 1: do bakes are happy. There you go, Well before we 704 00:53:12,600 --> 00:53:15,840 Speaker 1: really use some help, and there's a lot of ways 705 00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:19,520 Speaker 1: to do it, from merely making a phone call to 706 00:53:21,360 --> 00:53:23,640 Speaker 1: there's a lot of ways. We got to make it 707 00:53:23,719 --> 00:53:28,279 Speaker 1: known that this is important and we will bring as 708 00:53:28,400 --> 00:53:32,359 Speaker 1: much light to that as we can. Before we wrap 709 00:53:32,480 --> 00:53:35,880 Speaker 1: up this afternoon, I just wanted to read another add 710 00:53:35,920 --> 00:53:39,440 Speaker 1: for software people. If you want to get software on 711 00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:42,680 Speaker 1: your phone, download our free mobile app to get easy 712 00:53:42,719 --> 00:53:47,279 Speaker 1: access to articles, podcast gear reviews, all perfectly formated to 713 00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:50,759 Speaker 1: your device. Please subscribe to software dot com to get 714 00:53:50,800 --> 00:53:54,960 Speaker 1: access to our library of e books and our exclusive 715 00:53:55,000 --> 00:53:58,760 Speaker 1: team room forms and content available on all your Apple 716 00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:02,799 Speaker 1: and Android to vices. Mindy, thank you for taking the 717 00:54:02,920 --> 00:54:06,120 Speaker 1: time to join us today. We really appreciate it. We 718 00:54:06,200 --> 00:54:10,080 Speaker 1: appreciate your insight and your passion for this. It's something 719 00:54:10,120 --> 00:54:13,080 Speaker 1: I think we can all get behind. We've heard all 720 00:54:13,120 --> 00:54:17,960 Speaker 1: the the stories of the po ws, including the you 721 00:54:18,000 --> 00:54:21,640 Speaker 1: know Zamperini, Louis Zamperini, who they just made a movie about. 722 00:54:22,160 --> 00:54:25,040 Speaker 1: Considering he's on the best seller list for two years, 723 00:54:25,200 --> 00:54:28,520 Speaker 1: you would think more people would be understanding of this 724 00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:31,080 Speaker 1: is as if they never made the connection. If you 725 00:54:31,120 --> 00:54:33,360 Speaker 1: want to hear a read of some of the stories 726 00:54:33,440 --> 00:54:36,719 Speaker 1: I've talked about, look on my blog, which is cleverly 727 00:54:36,760 --> 00:54:43,560 Speaker 1: called American POWs of Japan dot blogspot dot com. Well, 728 00:54:43,600 --> 00:54:47,120 Speaker 1: we appreciate that and we will definitely uh check that 729 00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:49,840 Speaker 1: out and we encourage all our readers to do that. Mindy, 730 00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:52,319 Speaker 1: thank you for taking the time with us. Thank you 731 00:54:52,440 --> 00:54:56,040 Speaker 1: this morning, and h it was a pleasure, and we'll 732 00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:58,919 Speaker 1: be looking forward to seeing that gold medal before too long, 733 00:54:59,200 --> 00:55:02,640 Speaker 1: I hope, so invite you there you go. I appreciate 734 00:55:02,719 --> 00:55:06,440 Speaker 1: that for all of us here at Software Radio. Thanks 735 00:55:06,440 --> 00:55:09,360 Speaker 1: for listening software radio on time, on target. We'll be 736 00:55:09,440 --> 00:55:28,640 Speaker 1: back with another podcast in the very near feld. You've 737 00:55:28,680 --> 00:55:30,880 Speaker 1: been listening to self red Radia