HONOLULU — A federal commission recommended Wednesday that the U.S. government provide $125 million to eligible Guam residents as further compensation for their suffering during the Japanese occupation of the territory during World War II. In its report to Interior
HONOLULU — A federal commission recommended Wednesday that the U.S. government provide $125 million to eligible Guam residents as further compensation for their suffering during the Japanese occupation of the territory during World War II.
In its report to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, the Guam War Claims Review Commission said the compensation was to acknowledge the suffering and loyalty of Guamanians during the occupation.
“The Review Commission finds that the Japanese occupation of Guam was particularly cruel, oppressive, and brutal, and that the loyalty and steadfastness shown by the people of Guam in the face of the atrocities and barbarism inflicted on them by their Japanese occupiers was all the more extraordinary in the circumstances in which they were forced to live,” the report states.
The five-member commission recommended lump-sum payments of $12,000 to those who suffered personal injury, internment, forced labor or forced march during the occupation.
The total payment is estimated at $100 million. Survivors of mistreated residents who were still alive in 1990, but have since died, also are eligible.
Lump-sum payments of $25,000 are recommended for survivors of Guamanians who died during the occupation. The total payment is estimated at $25 million.
The report also recommended that a trust fund be established to pay for scholarships, medical facilities and other benefits for the people of Guam. Funds from eligible claims not filed or awards that are refused would be deposited into the fund.
Madeleine Bordallo, Guam’s representative in the U.S. House, plans to introduce legislation to implement the recommendations of the review commission, her office said.
“The Review Commission’s report is a significant step toward addressing the issue of war claims in Guam,” Bordallo said in a news release.
“I appreciate the hard work and diligence of the commissioners in addressing this sensitive and complex issue.”
The Guam War Claims Review Commission was established by the U.S. House in 2002 to study the extent of the mistreatment of Guamanians and determine whether appropriate compensation has been paid. During the occupation of Guam from December 1941 to August 1944, Japanese soldiers tortured and terrorized the Chamorros, the indigenous people of Guam, who concealed the presence of American soldiers in the U.S. territory, about 3,700 miles west of Hawai‘i. After World War II, the U.S. government agreed to compensate Guamanians for property, personal injury or death.
