|
let us run with endurance the race that is set before
us Hebrews 12:1
RE: Requesting Sponsorship
of Amendment to S768 for the Inclusion of the WW11 POWs from the Philippines
Thursday, November 12, 2009 9:25 AM
From:
"maria.embry@sbcglobal.net" <maria.embry@sbcglobal.net>
To:
" Adam
(Feinstein)Stone" <Adam_Stone@feinstein.senate.gov>
|
Sir, my deepest gratitude to you
Sincerely,
Maria Elizabeth
--- On Thu, 11/12/09,
Stone, Adam (Feinstein) <Adam_Stone@feinstein.senate.gov> wrote:
From: Stone, Adam (Feinstein) <Adam_Stone@feinstein.senate.gov>
Subject:
RE: Requesting Sponsorship of Amendment to S768 for the Inclusion of the WW11 POWs from the Philippines
To: "maria.embry@sbcglobal.net"
<maria.embry@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Thursday, November 12, 2009, 6:28 AM
Ms. Embry:
I have received your email. I will make sure that it is brought to the
attention of the Military Legislative Assistant and to the Senator.
Thank you,
Adam Stone
Legislative Correspondent
Senator Feinstein
From: maria.embry@sbcglobal.net [mailto:maria.embry@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 12:25 AM
To: Stone, Adam (Feinstein)
Subject: Requesting Sponsorship of Amendment to S768 for the Inclusion of the WW11 POWs
from the Philippines
|
Dear Mr. Adam Stone,
Sir, kindly to the attention of Sen Feintein. Please acknowledge receipt.
With deepest gratitude,
Maria Elizabeth Embry
xxxx
Antioch Ca 94509
Tel xxxxxx
An Open Letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein Seeking to Request Sponsorship of Amendment
to S768 for the Inclusion of the WW11 POWs from the Philippines
Dear Senator Feinstein:
Madam, during this solemn occasion when we, Americans publicly honor the service and sacrifice of our
military, allow me to plead with you to sponsor an amendment to S.768 introduced by Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico on April 1, 2009. S768 seeks to award the Congressional
Gold Medal to WW11 U.S. military personnel from the United States.
Excluded in the bill were those WW11 U.S. military personnel from the Philippines.
Undoubtedly, S.768 as currently written is unconstitutional for treating soldiers who
are similarly situated (same U.S. command, same POW camp, same fate-and that is dying) not in similar manner, by awarding medals to those
who came from the U.S. and excluding those who came from the Philippines. As we all know, equity is rooted in
conscience. This is the fundamental belief that every soldiers had fought for all of us. Most important, legislative
bills when crafted and before they are passed into Public Laws must be based on equity
Amending 768 is not an economic issue of additional cost to the U.S.
government since only one gold medal will be awarded collectively & symbolically to all recipients. Duplicate bronze medals
will be sold after the entire cost has been factored into a specified sale price. Therefore, it would even be a brilliant
marketing strategy to have more recipients in order to generate a robust sale. The adage, the more the merrier holds true
in this situation. Incidentally, the profit shall be deposited in favor of the U.S. Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
Amending S768 is not prohibited because of the citizenship, nationality or domicile of recipients, since these has never been issues in the past and the Medal has been granted to many individuals
of various citizenship, nationality & domicile
Since May 27, 2009 I had communicated my concerns to Sen. Udall via numerous e-mails, phone calls that
were validated by his office staff as received. Sen. Udall has been silent as to the cause of the exclusion of the Filipino
veterans
Therefore, in honor of those who perished, the survivors, the departed, many dying with war wounds that never healed
because of the bitterness of the inequity, I plead with you to kindly respond in the affirmative that you will file an amendment
to include the soldiers from the Philippines in S.768. Never should we forget again to whom we all owe the freedom that
we all enjoy today.
Your honor, my deepest gratitude to you & your staff for all the valuable assistance you continue
to extend to our beloved Filipino U.S. WW11 veterans
Thank you for your attention to this matter
Sincerely,
Maria Elizabeth Embry
xxxxx
Antioch Ca 94509
xxxx
November 11, 2009 Veterans’ Day
Enclosures:
An Open e- letter to the Honorable Senator Tom Udall of New
Mexico
Re: S. 768 (Granting of Congressional Gold Medal to WW11 Bataan POW) |
|
An Open e- letter to the
Honorable Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico
Re: S. 768 (Granting of Congressional
Gold Medal to WW11 Bataan POW)
Hon Tom Udall
110 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington D.C. 20510
Dear Sir:
My name is Maria Elizabeth Embry from Antioch California. I respectfully would
like to call your attention to S. 768 which you had introduced to the U.S. Senate on April 1, 2009.
First of all, allow me to commend you for
your honorable intention to pay tribute to our truly heroic military personnel during World War 11 who became prisoners of
war as a consequence of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines.
However, carefully reading S. 768, became
problematic for me in your definition of recipients, which to quote, “to grant the Congressional Gold Medal to the soldiers
from the United States
who were prisoners of war at Bataan during World War II.
Further readings of the bill’s congressional
findings stated the following: “that by April 1942, nearly 12,000 soldiers
from the United States and 67,000
soldiers from the Philippines based at Bataan, Philippines, had bravely and staunchly
fought off enemy attacks …. on June 6, 1942, the prisoners from the United States were transferred to Cabanatuan, north
of Camp O'Donnell.
In July 1942, all prisoners from the Philippines were paroled… the
people of the United States are forever indebted to these men for the courage they demonstrated during the first 4 months of World War II in fighting against enemy soldiers; and the perseverance they demonstrated
during 3 years of capture, imprisonment, and atrocious conditions, while
maintaining dignity, honor, patriotism, and loyalty.”
Sir, I request that you amend the exclusionary
provision of S. 768. Honoring only those who suffered in further captivity is
to diminish the role of those who were paroled, but who suffered with the same and sometimes actually worse fate than the
military personnel you are honoring exclusively.
With all due respect to your Honor, allow
me to remind you of the following facts:
The U.
S. WW11 Bataan POW from the Philippines, although paroled, continued fighting to victory an unwinnable war against
all odds sans military equipment, organization and hope.
They fought the ravages of malnutrition, war
related illnesses, exposure to further arrests and endangerment to their person, family and friends.
They lost their homes that became shells of
abode destroyed equally by enemy and friendly fires.
They help rescue the POWs, that not for the
courage of rescuers the likelihood of not finding a single soul to save among them is a real possibility given the known propensity
of the enemy soldiers.
They reenlisted to help clean up postwar Okinawa
and other places, maintain peace and order, rebuilt United States
numerous territorial possessions from anarchy and further devastations.
They came back from war not to the accolades
but to the resounding rejection from the U.S. Congress that their wartime service was deemed not to have been a service to
the United States military and as a consequence
suffered the indignity and humiliation of being excluded by a nation regarded in the whole world for her democratic principles.
They embarked patiently on a 63 year journey
thru numerous U.S. courts and congressional floors to fight for the recognition, with the steadfast support of legislators like the
Hon. Inouye, Akaka, Filner, Honda and many others who incidentally include your Honor and the co sponsors of S. 768.
They watched many of their comrades die with their military service unrecognized, excluded from education,
health care and housing benefits enjoyed by their comrades from other nationalities and later they were not allowed to be buried with military honors in military burial grounds.
Sir, the WW11 U.S. military personnel from
the Philippines suffered all these and
many more unspeakable indignities.
Although, I would like to say that I trust
your good judgment, however, I would like to respectfully caution your Honor not to go in the same path taken by your predecessors
in Congress who fashioned the two infamous Rescission Acts of 1946 in deliberately excluding the Filipino WW11 U.S. veterans
from the honor they deserved as a matter of law and conscience. Let there be no more divisions among the military personnel
who had honorably served United States
cause. Why perpetuate the inequity? Why not render justice now, since we are
fortunate enough to find these remaining valiant Filipino WW11 U.S. veterans still with us?
Therefore, I respectfully request that you
amend S768 to include all WW11 Bataan POW U.S.
military personnel while disregarding their place of nativity and domicile, race and citizenship.
I would appreciate a written response from
your Honor regarding these issues.
Sincerely,
Maria Elizabeth Embry
xxxxx
Antioch Ca 94509
Tel xxxxxx
http://cgmedal4-bataanpow.tripod.com
http://filipinos-ww2usveterans-4equity.tripod.com
http://filipinos-ww2usmilitarysevice.tripod.com
RE: S. 768 sponsored by Sen Tom Udall (Bataan POWs from the Philippines excluded)
Thursday, June 11, 2009 10:33 AM
From:
"Duran, Pablo (Tom Udall)" <Pablo_Duran@tomudall.senate.gov>
To:
"'maria.embry@sbcglobal.net'" <maria.embry@sbcglobal.net>
Thank you for your
email, Maria. We will get you a response.
pd
Pablo Duran
Senator Udall (New Mexico)
S.768 POW @ Bataan introduced by Sen Udall
Monday, June 8, 2009 10:40 AM
From:
"maria.embry@sbcglobal.net" <maria.embry@sbcglobal.net>
To:
anna_vavruska@tomudall.senate.gov
|
Dear Anna,
Greetings to
you. As per our telephone conversation kindly forward the following to Mr. Pablo Duran of Sen Udall's Veteran Affairs staff
Re S.768 for the personal attention of Sen. Udall.
Please acknowledge
receipt of this e-mail, so I may ascertain that I have gotten your e-mail address correctly.
Thank you for
your attention regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
Maria Elizabeth
Embry |
Death of Bataan POW from the Philippines
excluded from S. 768Friday, June 26, 2009 12:28 PM
From: "maria.embry@sbcglobal.net" <maria.embry@sbcglobal.net>View
contact detailsTo: anna_vavruska@tomudall.senate.gov
Death of Bataan POW from the Philippines
excluded from S. 768Friday, June 26, 2009 11:18 AM
From: "maria.embry@sbcglobal.net" <maria.embry@sbcglobal.net>View
contact detailsTo: Donda_Morgan@tomudall.senate.gov
Death of Bataan POW from the Philippines excluded from S. 768Friday, June 26, 2009 11:17
AM
From: "maria.embry@sbcglobal.net" <maria.embry@sbcglobal.net>View
contact detailsTo: Tom_Nagle@tomudall.senate.gov
Death of Bataan POW from the Philippines excluded from S. 768Friday, June 26, 2009 11:12
AM
From: "maria.embry@sbcglobal.net" <maria.embry@sbcglobal.net>View
contact detailsTo: pablo_duran@tomudall.senate.gov
FAIR USE
Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided
for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for
your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner
WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION
|
