Japan's PM snubs POW's son

Kyt · Jun 20, 2009

Japan's PM snubs son of British POW - Telegraph

Japan's prime minister, Taro Aso, faced fresh demands that he apologise to former prisoners of war after he cancelled a meeting with the son of a Royal Navy stoker used as a slave labourer in his family's coal mines.

James McAnulty, from Wishaw in Lanarkshire, had been told that he would be able to meet Taro Aso and make his request for an apology and compensation for his father's suffering during the Second World War. But after he travelled to Japan the prime minister's office cancelled the meeting.

"I'm extremely disappointed, although his refusal to meet with us is perhaps not surprising," said McAnulty, whose father, Patrick James McAnulty, never fully recovered from more than three years of captivity in Japan. Several months of that time were spent labouring for the company. He died in 1971.

But Mr McAnulty added: "I'm not going home down-hearted as there have been many positives from the trip, including a meeting with the head of the opposition party and a promise from the prime minister's family company that we can continue our dialogue."

Mr McAnulty was visiting Japan with Joe Coombs, 88, who lives in Sydney and was captured at the fall of Singapore in 1942 and used as a forced labourer. They visited the mine, on the southern island of Kyushu, earlier this week but were not able to meet the company president Yutaka Aso, the prime minister's brother.

"I believe Mr Aso should apologise to all the POWs, but we were snubbed by the Aso officials and I don't think we'll ever get any compensation," said Mr Coombs.

Mr McAnulty held talks with Yukio Hatoyama on Friday, with the opposition leader indicating that he would be "sympathetic" to demands for recognition and compensation from former prisoners of war if he wins the general election that must be called within the next four months.

Mr McAnulty would also like to see a memorial built on the site of the mine where his father was forced to work, as well as a local education programme.

Patrick McAnulty was a stoker aboard the cruiser HMS Exeter when it was sunk in the Java Sea on March 1, 1942. After being picked up by a Japanese warship, he spent time in a camp on Celebes island before being shipped to Japan. After a spell in a shipyard in Nagasaki, he was transferred to Fukuoka Camp 26 in June 1945 and worked at the Yoshikuma Coal Mine.

Until January of this year, Mr Aso had steadfastly refused to confirm that his company had employed slave labourers during the war. New evidence unearthed by opposition politicians in the archives of the Health and Welfare Ministry proved that 101 British, 197 Australian and two Dutch prisoners were held at the coal mine, along with several thousand Korean forced labourers.

Historians say the mines were notorious for their brutal treatment of prisoners.

A company spokesman, Yasuyuki Moriyama, told the two men that no records exist of POWs being used as forced labourers, a contradiction of the prime minister's statement earlier in the year.
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Japan's PM snubs POW's son

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