The American POWs Still Waiting for an Apology From Japan 70 Years Later–world history and facts
The American POWs Still Waiting for an Apology From Japan 70 Years Later Kathy Holcomb touching the wall of one of the original buildings at the Ishihara Sangyo plant where her father labored as a POW in World War II Kathy Holcomb put her hand on the wall of a crumbling factory building in the central Japanese city of Yokkaichi and envisioned her father touching the same spot during his years as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. Like thousands of American POWs, her father was made to labor under slave-like conditions in Japan’s war industry. Four of every 10 American prisoners died of starvation, illness or abuse. Now, the survivors, their families and supporters are demanding an apology from the companies that operated those camps and profited from POW labor. Those include some of Japan’s best-known corporate giants. “My father never really forgave the Japanese. He never understood the cruelty or the constant physical abuse,” said Holcomb. Her father, Harold V...