USS HOUSTON CA 30

“The galloping Ghost of the Java Coast”

December 7, 2001

Remarks of Rear Admiral Stephen R. Loeffler
United States Navy (Retired)
at A Tribute to Americans – POW’s Remembered
Opening of the new exhibition at the Changi Museum
Honoring Americans who were Prisoners of War in Singapore
7^th December 2001 – 60^th Anniversary of the Bombing of
Pearl Harbor and Singapore by Imperial Japan

GOOD EVENING, HONORED GUESTS AND FRIENDS OF THE HUNDREDS OF AMERICANS WHO WERE INTERNED AS PRISONERS OF WAR IN SINGAPORE DURING WORLD WAR II. I WOULD LIKE TO SINCERELY THANK MRS. PAMELIA LEE OF THE SINGAPORE TOURISM BOARD AND MRS. JOANNE BLAKEMORE OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE FOR ASKING ME TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROJECT AND ASKING MY WIFE DEBORAH AND ME TO BE HERE TODAY TO REPRESENT THE VETERANS OF CHANGI GAOL AND OTHER PRISONER OF WAR CAMPS IN SINGAPORE. I HAVE SPOKEN WITH MANY OF THE POW’S AS WELL AS THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS AND SURVIVORS. WHILE HEALTH AND OTHER MATTERS MAY PRECLUDE THEM FROM BEING HERE TODAY, THEY ARE WITH US IN SPIRIT AND MIND, AND DEEPLY APPRECIATIVE OF THE FACT THAT YOU ARE TAKING TIME TO RECOGNIZE THE SACRIFICES THEY MADE IN THE PURSUIT OF FREEDOM FROM OPPRESSION FOR ALL OF MANKIND. ONE OF THE SURVIVORS, PAUL PAPISH, WHO GOES BY THE AUSPICIOUS EMAIL ADDRESS OF CHANGI PAP, SUMMED UP THEIR APPRECIATION FOR OUR EFFORTS WHEN HE SAID: “THIS MEANS A GREAT DEAL TO ME AND ALL OF US. I WAS A THIRD CLASS NAVY STOREKEEPER, DEBILITATED BY AMOEBIC DYSENTERY, BERI BERI AND MALARIA WHEN I LEFT CHANGI GAOL AFTER THREE AND A HALF YEARS OF IMPRISONMENT. I JUST TURNED MY BACK ON MY CELL AND LEFT WITH ONLY A PAIR OF SHORTS, THE SPOON I ATE MY RICE WITH A FEW YEARS RUNNING, A ROSARY GIVEN TO ME BY A DUTCH PRIEST, AND A SMALL CATHOLIC “MIRACULOUS MEDAL” GIVEN TO ME WHEN I GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL BY MY TEACHER, SISTER ANNE HERMINE. THAT MEDAL SAVED MY LIFE WHILE I WAS A POW. THIS IS NOT MUCH TO SHOW FOR MORE THAN THREE YEARS OF SACRIFICE, SO I HOPE THE EXHIBITION AT THE CHANGI MUSEUM WILL HELP PEOPLE REMEMBER ALL OF US, DEAD AND ALIVE, WHO FOUGHT AGAINST JAPANESE AGGRESSION AND INHUMANITY.”

MY INVOLVEMENT WITH THIS PROJECT STEMS BACK TO A UNITED STATES MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE WHEN I WAS THE U.S. NAVAL FORCES COMMANDER HERE IN SINGAPORE. WE HELD THE SERVICE AT THE LAST REMAINING CHANGI CAMP CHAPEL NEAR THE OLD MUSEUM, AND MANY AMERICANS, SINGAPOREANS AND EXPATS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES ATTENDED THAT EVENT. WE ALSO INVITED A SINGAPOREAN PRIEST, WHO HAD MINISTERED AT THE PRISON DURING THE WAR, TO DELIVER A PRAYER. AFTER THE SERVICE, THE PRIEST AND I WERE STANDING TALKING AT THE ALTER ABOUT THE AMERICANS BURIED AT KRANJI WAR MEMORIAL CEMETERY WHEN A YOUNG BRITISH COUPLE WALKED UP. THE WOMEN HAD TEARS IN HER EYES AND TOLD ME HOW MUCH IT MEANT TO HER TO HEAR THE STORY OF WHEN MY FATHER HAD BEEN A GERMAN PRISONER OF WAR AFTER BEING WOUNDED AND CAPTURED AT THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE, AND THE IMPACT OF THE HARSH INTERNMENT ON HIS LIFE AND THE LIVES OF OUR FAMILY. HER FATHER HAD BEEN THE SURVIVOR OF A SUNKEN ROYAL NAVY CRUISER AND THEN A PRISONER OF WAR HERE IN CHANGI BEFORE BEING TAKEN AS A SLAVE LABORER ON DEATH’S RAILWAY. IN HER HAND SHE HELD A SMALL WOODEN CROSS TO LAY AT THE ALTER. ON THE CROSS WERE THE WORDS: “TO THE FATHER I NEVER KNEW. YOU FOUGHT AND DIED HERE SO THAT MY FAMILY AND I COULD LIVE IN FREEDOM HALF A WORLD AWAY. I SHALL ALWAYS LOVE YOU.” ……THEN IT WAS THE PRIEST AND I WHO HAD TEARS IN OUR EYES. // FATHERS, SONS, MOTHERS, DAUGHTERS AND ALL OF THOSE WHOSE COURAGE LED TO THE ALLIED VICTORY IN WORLD WAR II CANNOT BE FORGOTTEN AND WE HONOR THEM TODAY.

DECEMBER 7TH, 1941, A DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY IN THE WORDS OF FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT’S ADDRESS TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS FOLLOWING THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR. HERE IN SINGAPORE, IN HIS MEMOIRS, SENIOR MINISTER LEE KUAN YEW NOTES THAT HE WAS ASLEEP AT RAFFLES COLLEGE IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS ON DECEMBER 8TH WHEN AWAKENED BY THE DULL THUD OF EXPLODING BOMBS. “THE WAR WITH JAPAN HAD BEGUN.” HE GOES ON TO SAY: “IT IS DIFFICULT FOR THOSE BORN AFTER 1945 TO APPRECIATE THE FULL IMPLICATIONS OF THE BRITISH DEFEAT….” ON SINGAPORE. NEITHER DID HUNDREDS OF AMERICANS UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT OF THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF SINGAPORE ON THEIR LIVES AS THEY WERE CAPTURED, INTERNED HERE AND THEN TAKEN TO MALAYA, THAILAND AND BURMA AS FORCED LABOR TO BUILD THE “BURMA-SIAM DEATH RAILWAY.” THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOU ABOUT TODAY.

WE WILL PROBABLY NEVER KNOW THE NAMES OF ALL THE AMERICANS WHO WERE EITHER PRISONERS OF WAR OR BURIED HERE DURING WORLD WAR II. IN THE MONTHS OF MY RESEARCH, NEW NAMES KEPT APPEARING FROM LISTS KEPT SECRETLY BY YANKS AND OTHER ALLIED PRISONERS, IN EMAIL MESSAGES FROM MEN WHO’S NAMES WERE NOT ON THOSE LISTS. SOME OF THEM SPENT DAYS, OTHERS SPENT YEARS, AS PRISONERS OF WAR HERE IN CHANGI GAOL, IN RIVER ROAD, OR OTHER POW CAMPS. THEY CONSIDERED THEMSELVES THE LUCKY ONES, STILL ALIVE, AFTER THE SINKING OF USS HOUSTON (CA 30) IN THE BATTLE OF SUNDA STRAIT, THE CAPTURE OF THE 2ND BATTALION, 131ST FIELD ARTILLERY OF THE 8TH U.S. TEXAS DIVISION WITH THE FALL OF BATAVIA AND JAVA TO THE JAPANESE, THE SINKING OF U.S. MERCHANT SHIPS BY A GERMAN RAIDER AND AVIATORS SHOT DOWN IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. THEY WERE SOLDIERS, SAILORS, MARINES, AIRMAN, MERCHANT MARINERS AND CIVILIANS WHOSE LIVES WERE INEXTRICABLY ALTERED AND, IN MANY CASES, ENDED BY THE EVENTS OF THE 7TH AND 8TH OF DECEMBER 1941. THEY WERE MEN LIKE OTTO SCHWARZ, STILL PRESIDENT OF THE USS HOUSTON ASSOCIATION, AND FRANK FICKLIN, PRESIDENT OF THE LOST BATTALION ASSOCIATION. IF THEY WERE HERE TODAY, THEY WOULD TELL YOU THAT THE JAPANESE IMPERIAL FORCES DID NOT HONOR THE GENEVA CONVENTION FOR THE TREATMENT OF POW’S --- AND OF THE ATROCITIES THEY ENDURED IN PRISON CAMPS. I QUOTE: “THEY WORKED US TILL WE FELL, THEN BEAT US FOR FALLING. THEY BEAT US UNTIL WE BLED, THEN BEAT US FOR BLEEDING. THEY DENIED US MEDICAL TREATMENT, THEY STARVED US. THEY WATCHED US DIE BY TENS OF THOUSANDS FROM DISEASES OF MALNUTRITION LIKE BERI BERI, PELLAGRA AND SCURVY, AND FROM EPIDEMIC DISEASES OF THE TROPICS. THREE AND A HALF YEARS OF THIS. WE KNOW THAT IF THE WAR HAD LASTED ANOTHER YEAR THERE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A PRISONER LEFT ALIVE.”

OF ALL THE AMERICANS WHO WERE POW’S HERE IN CHANGI, ONLY A HANDFUL WERE IN THE CAMP ON LIBERATION DAY – YOU CAN SEE THEIR NAMES ON A POSTER BY PAUL PAPISH IN THE EXHIBIT TO AMERICANS IN THE MUSEUM. THE REST WERE SCATTERED ALL ACROSS ASIA: JAVA, BURMA, THAILAND, FRENCH INDOCHINA, CHINA, MANCHURIA AND JAPAN ITSELF. IN THE LOST BATTALION ALONE, 668 WERE CAPTURED AND 163 DIED WHILE PRISONERS OF THE JAPANESE. OF THESE, 133 DIED JUST NORTH OF HERE IN THE JUNGLES ALONG THE BURMA-SIAM RAILROAD. THE NAMES OF THOSE 133 ARE ON A PLAQUE IN THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL CEMETERY OF THE PACIFIC IN PUNCHBOWL PARK OVERLOOKING PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII. TWENTY-EIGHT OF THEM ARE BURIED BENEATH THE SOFT GREEN LAWN IN THE LEE OF THE PLAQUE THAT BEARS THEIR NAMES.

ONE OF THOSE 28 IS OSCAR OFFERLE OF D BATTERY WHO HAD A TROPICAL ULCER SO BAD HE WAS SENT TO A DUMPING GROUND JUST CALLED 80 KILOMETER CAMP. OSCAR’S YOUNGER BROTHER, MAX, ALSO A POW, WENT WITH HIM ON CRUTCHES – HE HAD A BAD TROPICAL ULCER TOO AND COULD NOT WORK. OSCAR DIED WITH HIS HEAD IN MAX’S LAP. THAT GAVE MAX THE COURAGE TO SURVIVE THE WAR AND LATER LAY A WREATH ON OSCAR’S GRAVE IN HAWAII. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF STORIES LIKE THIS.

VALDON S. ROBERTS WAS A 6', 175 LB, 21 YEAR OLD YOUNG MAN FROM A SMALL TOWN IN CENTRAL TEXAS. HE WAS THE YOUNGEST OF 7 CHILDREN, 3 HAD DIED BEFORE THE AGE OF 5, ANOTHER HAD DIED IN HER TEENS. HIS OLDER SISTER HAD MARRIED, BROTHER WAS IN EUROPE FIGHTING THE WAR AND HIS MOTHER HAD DIED WHEN HE WAS 17. HE WANTED TO ESCAPE THE IRON RULE OF HIS FATHER WORKING THE RANCH AND DECIDED TO JOIN THE NAVY TO HELP IN THE WAR EFFORT. WHAT DID HE LIVE FOR TO SURVIVE THE HORRORS OF POW LIFE? HIS SHEER DETERMINATION - HE SAID, " I WAS BORN ON AMERICAN SOIL AND I WAS GOING TO DIE ON AMERICAN SOIL". HE LIVED WITH THE GUILT OF NOT FIGHTING FOR HIS COUNTRY BUT WORKING AS A SLAVE LABORER FOR THE ENEMY. HE WAS TREATED NO BETTER - NO WORSE THAN THE NEXT MAN. FOR THE SLIGHTEST INFRACTION, HE WAS PUNISHED SEVERELY. HE CAME HOME FROM THE WAR WITH SCARS ON HIS BODY AND IN HIS MIND. HE SPENT FIVE DAYS WITHOUT FOOD AND WATER IN A SWEAT BOX. WHEN THEY REMOVED HIM, HE WAS UNCONSCIOUS, CURLED IN THE FETAL POSITION, COVERED IN HIS OWN FECES. HIS BUDDY SPOON FED, BATHED AND MASSAGED HIS ARMS AND LEGS FOR THREE DAYS BEFORE HE COULD WALK AGAIN. ANOTHER TIME, HE WAS SKEWERED TO THE GROUND WITH BAMBOO SPIKES JUST BELOW HIS COLLAR BONE AND THROUGH HIS SHOULDER BLADES. HE LAY THERE FOR THREE DAYS, BUGS CRAWLING OVER HIM AS THE GUARDS WOULD STOMP AND KICK HIM AS THEY WALKED BY. HE HELD A YOUNG MAN IN HIS ARMS WHEN HE DIED AND MOURNED FOR HIM MORE THAN 30 YEARS LATER VALDON ROBERTS REMAINED COMPASSIONATE IN THOSE TIMES. HE VIVIDLY REMEMBERED ANOTHER YOUNG MAN HE HELPED HOLD DOWN UNTIL HE PASSED OUT FROM THE PAIN DURING A MAKE SHIFT SURGERY. HE CONTINUED TO ADMIRE AND BE INSPIRED BY OTHER'S COURAGE THROUGHOUT THEIR INTERNMENT AS POW’S. THESE MEN NEVER RECEIVED PURPLE HEARTS FOR THE BLOOD THEY SHED WHILE POW'S. THEY RECEIVED NO MEDALS OF VALOR FOR THEIR HEROIC DEEDS TO HELP THEIR BUDDIES WHILE CAPTURED. VALDON ROBERTS CAME HOME AN INCH SHORTER AND WEIGHING 86 LBS. HE SUFFERED FROM PARASITES IN HIS GUT AND FLARE UPS OF MALARIA FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. HE BORE HIS SCARS QUIETLY AND TRIED TO BURY HIS MEMORIES, RARELY SPEAKING OF HIS DAYS DURING THE WAR. HOWEVER, HIS HEART REMAINED PURE. HE TAUGHT HIS DAUGHTER, VALERIE, TO BE COMPASSIONATE AND FORGIVING. HE TAUGHT HER TO CHERISH FAMILY AND ENJOY THE SIMPLE PLEASURES OF LIFE. HE TAUGHT HER A STRONG WORK ETHIC AND TO FACE CHALLENGES AS AN ADVENTURE INSTEAD OF A HARDSHIP. HE TAUGHT VALERIE TO BE A PROUD AMERICAN - TO VALUE HER FREEDOMS AND KNOW THE RESPONSIBILITIES THAT COME WITH THEM. MOST OF ALL, BY HIS EXAMPLE, HE TAUGHT HER HUMILITY AND HONOR.

VALERIE POSS IS THE ONLY CHILD OF VALDON ROBERTS AND VERY PROUD TO BE THE DAUGHTER OF AN EX-POW. NOW SHE IS MARRIED, MOTHER OF A DAUGHTER AND SON AND GRANDMOTHER OF FOUR BOYS. SHE IS A MEMBER OF THE “NEXT GENERATION OF SURVIVORS OF THE USS HOUSTON SURVIVORS ASSOCIATION WHERE THE PRESIDENT, OTTO SCHWARZ (SURVIVOR AND POW) BECAME HER MENTOR AND PASSED THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION TO ME. VAL POSS SAYS, “IT'S A PRIVILEGE TO WORK WITH THIS GROUP OF HEROES.”

TALKING TO AND CORRESPONDING WITH THESE MEN AND THEIR SURVIVING SPOUSES, CHILDREN AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS IS INSPIRATIONAL. AS MEMBERS OF CIVILIZED SOCIETIES, WE CAN ONLY BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND THE HORRORS THESE PRISONERS OF WAR ENDURED. WE NEED ONLY REFLECT ON THE EVENTS OF THE 11TH OF SEPTEMBER AT THE NEW YORK WORLD TRADE CENTER, THE PENTAGON AND FIELDS OF PENNSYLVANIA TO BEAR WITNESS TO THE IMPACT OF THE ATTACKS ON PEARL HARBOR AND SINGAPORE SIXTY YEARS AGO.

LET ME TELL YOU JUST A FEW MORE STORIES OF THESE PRISONERS OF WAR AND WHY WE HONOR THEIR COURAGE HERE TODAY. JAMES RAYDELL WILSON WAS A MARINE ABOARD THE USS HOUSTON, A SHIP OFTEN CALLED THE GREY GHOST OF THE JAVA COAST AFTER THE BATTLE OF THE JAVA SEA – THE JAPANESE CLAIMED TO HAVE SUNK HER MANY TIMES. WHEN THE SHIP WENT DOWN IN A BATTLE IN THE SUNDA STRAIT, RAYDELL’S MOTHER SAID, “HE SWAM TO THE WRONG SIDE OF THE SHIP AND WAS CAPTURED BY THE JAPANESE.” HOUSTON WAS SURROUNDED BY ENEMY SHIPS, SO THERE WAS NO RIGHT SIDE. HE WAS A STRAPPING YOUNG MARINE, PROUD TO BE STATIONED ABOARD THE FLAGSHIP OF THE U.S. ASIATIC FLEET. AFTER LEAVING CHANGI GAOL, HE DIED A TERRIBLE DEATH OF CEREBRAL MALARIA ON DEATH RAILWAY, BUT TO THIS DAY, HIS COUSIN LIN DREES WRITES TO ME WITH TEARS IN HER EYES TO TALK ABOUT ANOTHER HOUSTON CREW MEMBER, M. L. REA, WHO CARRIED RAYDELL TO BE BURIED AND MADE A CROSS AND WREATH TO MARK THE GRAVE OF HIS BRAVE MARINE FRIEND.

JACK SMITH, ANOTHER HOUSTON SAILOR WHO WAS INTERNED HERE IN CHANGI, STILL TRIES TO HEAL HIS BODY AND SPIRIT BY WRITING POETRY ABOUT SHIPMATES, AND OTHERS LOST IN THE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION OF HOUSTON AND HMAS PERTH. REFLECTING ON HIMSELF, HIS POEM READS:

I FOUND A PIC BRISTLE TOOTHBRUSH
WHEN WE WENT THROUGH SINGAPORE;
AND A LITTLE BENT UP TEA POT
I LEARNED TO ADORE;
IF THERE WAS FIRE AND WATER,
I COULD MAKE IT SAFE TO DRINK;
FOR DRINKING UNBOILED WATER
WAS THE SAME AS NOT TO THINK;
THE ONE PAIR OF SHOES I WAS GIVEN
AS A POW IN SINGAPORE;
A PAIR OF ENGLISH COMBAT BOOTS –
ONE SOLE WAS MADE OF PAPER AND
FELL APART THE FIRST TIME IT GOT WET;
WE CAUGHT A LITTLE MONKEY
BECAUSE WE WERE ALWAYS HUNGRY;
BUT THE FEAR IN THE EYES OF THE LITTLE ANIMAL SHOWING GREAT FRIGHT;
CAUSED OUR HUNGER TO DISAPPEAR
AND WE RELEASED THE MONKEY - TO LIVE ANOTHER DAY.

FORMER POW ROGER WHITE OF E BATTERY, 131ST FIELD ARTILLERY OF THE LOST BATTALION, ASKED ME TO PASS ALONG TO ALL OF YOU THAT “IT IS INDEED AN HONOR TO BE RECOGNIZED IN THE MUSEUM AND BY OUR AMERICAN FRIENDS IN SINGAPORE. I WANT TO EXTEND A WARM THANK YOU FROM MY GROUP, THE LOST BATTALION ASSOCIATION.” HIS DAUGHTER, ANDREA WHITE WILLOTT, IS A “NEXT GENERATION” MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATION. SHE ASKED ME TO TELL YOU A LITTLE ABOUT HER DAD, AND I QUOTE: “HE ALWAYS INSTILLED IN HIS DAUGHTERS HIS LOVE OF (HIS) COUNTRY—HE SERVED PROUDLY, FOUGHT VALIANTLY, SURRENDERED LIKE A GENTLEMAN, AND WAS HELD CAPTIVE WITHOUT LETTING HIS HORRIBLE EXPERIENCES IN PRISON CAMP INTERFERE WITH HIS ABILITY TO LOVE, LAUGH, AND BE ABOUT THE BEST DAD ANYONE COULD EVER HOPE TO HAVE. I HAVE KNOWN ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCES AS A POW ALL MY LIFE—HE WAS NEVER ASHAMED OF IT—NOR IS HE BITTER ABOUT IT. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN VERY PROUD OF HIM.” UNQUOTE SHE ADDS HER THANK YOU TO THAT OF HER FATHER’S FOR YOUR HARD WORK ON THIS VERY SPECIAL PROJECT.

LET ME CLOSE BY TELLING YOU ABOUT A SPECIAL SCRAPBOOK KEPT BY FORMER POW, STANLEY WILLNER. STANLEY WILLNER WAS A MERCHANT MARINER AND FOURTH OFFICER IN SS SAWOKLA WHEN THE SHIP WAS ATTACKED AND SUNK BY THE GERMAN RAIDER MICHEL ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29TH, 1942. WOUNDED, STANLEY WILLNER WAS BLOWN OVER THE SIDE OF THE SHIP – HE WAS THE ONLY MAN ON THE BRIDGE TO SURVIVE THE ATTACK. TAKEN PRISONER BY THE GERMANS AND TURNED OVER TO THE JAPANESE, HE ARRIVED AT CHANGI POW CAMP IN FEBRUARY 1943 BEFORE GOING TO LABOR ON DEATH’S RAILWAY IN BURMA. IN CHANGI, HE RECEIVED A SMALL AMOUNT OF PAPER FOR PERSONAL USE AND YOU WILL SEE FOUR DRAWINGS FROM HIS SCRAPBOOK IN THE AMERICAN EXHIBIT. HE COLLECTED THE SKETCHES FROM OTHER PRISONERS OF WAR AND HE HAS NEVER FORGOTTEN HIS FELLOW POW’S AND THOSE WHO PERISHED DURING CAPTIVITY. HE HAS HONORED THEM BY REMEMBERING AND NOT FORGIVING WHAT TERRIBLE THINGS WERE DONE BY THEIR CAPTORS. IN OCTOBER 1976, STANLEY WENT TO THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI NEAR KANCHANABURI, THAILAND WHERE MANY OF THE 15,000 ALLIED POW’S WHO DIED WHILE LABORING ON THE BURMA-SIAM DEATH RAILWAY ARE BURIED. IN WHAT WAS TO BE A “MARCH OF FORGIVENESS”, FORMER POW’S AND THEIR JAPANESE GUARDS WALKED ACROSS THE BRIDGE TOGETHER. STANLEY COULD NOT MAKE THAT WALK. HE FEELS EVEN TODAY THAT HE MUST HONOR HIS FELLOW POW’S BY NOT FORGIVING WHAT WAS DONE TO THEM. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, A FELLOW POW, BILL WEISSINGER, WHO HAD NOT MADE THE TRIP TO THAILAND, WROTE TO STANLEY. LET ME READ A SHORT PORTION OF HIS LETTER: “ALTHOUGH I CAN UNDERSTAND HOW SOME FEEL ABOUT THE EXPERIENCES AS POW’S, AND HOW THEY BELIEVE THAT ONE SHOULD FORGIVE, I BELIEVE THAT I WOULD HAVE TO GO ALONG WITH YOU AND SAY THAT THERE IS JUST TOO MUCH TO REMEMBER. HOWEVER, I DON’T THINK ONE SHOULD CARRY THE REMEMBERING SO FAR THAT THEY WOULD EXCLUDE THE NEWER GENERATION FROM ACTS OF FRIENDSHIP, OR HOLD THEM RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTS OF THEIR FATHERS. BUT AS YOU WELL KNOW, ALL THE FORGIVING, ALL THE FORGETTING, AND ALL THE THOUGHTS AND ACTS OF FRIENDSHIP HAVE TO BE DONE ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS. I SUPPOSE WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY IS: REGARDLESS OF HOW ONE FEELS AS AN INDIVIDUAL, WE WHO WERE POW’S MUST MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO SEE THAT IT DOESN’T HAPPEN AGAIN. MOST SINCERELY, BILL WEISSINGER.”

AS WE REFLECT ON THE HONOR, THE COURAGE, AND THE PATRIOTISM OF THE AMERICANS WHO WERE PRISONERS OF WAR HERE IN SINGAPORE, WE, TOO, MUST MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO SEE THAT IT DOES NOT HAPPEN AGAIN.

THANK YOU. IT HAS BEEN MY DISTINCT PLEASURE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN POW’S.