Soldier slaves : abandoned by the White House, courts, and congress / James W. Parkinson and Lee Benson

Soldier slaves : abandoned by the White House, courts, and congress / James W. Parkinson and Lee Benson

Bataan Death March, Philippines, 1942.

Ex-prisoners of war--Legal status, laws, etc.--United States.

World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Japanese.

Two stories presented side by side: the sufferings endured by American veterans of Bataan and Corregidor in the defense of the Philippines, 1941-1942 and subsequent prisoner of war experience, and the legal battle from the late 1990s to the early 2000s for compensation from the Japanese companies which forced them to work. Alternate chapters deal with first the near present (1999) and the wartime experiences.

The lead author, Parkinson, was the head lawyer in the case of the POWs against the Japanese companies (giants such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi); Benson is a professional journalist. They visited veterans, battle sites and war commemorations while fighting it out in the courts. In the end, the US government did not support the veterans’ claims; as in 1942-1944, they were abandoned by their government, the authors point out.

Parkinson, James W.

Benson, Lee

Annapolis, MD : Naval Institute Press, c2006

2006

23 x 16 cm.

Softbound

1591142040

KF 228 .J36 P37 2006

13796

xiv, 242 p.

ill.