Statement of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte Markup of H.R. 3449, to award posthumous citizenship to Filipinos who served in World War II

Statement

Chairman Goodlatte: Many Filipinos bravely served with the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II in the Philippine Scouts.

The U.S. Army writes that:

[Early in World War II, General] MacArthur had his entire Army withdraw to the Bataan Peninsula and to Corregidor Island to hold off the [Japanese Army] until the U.S. Navy could bring reinforcements and supplies. The Philippine Scouts, side-by-side with U.S. National Guard and Philippine army infantry units, defeated the Japanese army in numerous actions in the interior and on the coastlines of Bataan. Survivors of the Battle of Bataan, to a man, describe the Philippine scouts as the backbone of the American defense there. President Franklin Roosevelt awarded the U.S. Army's first three Congressional Medals of Honor of World War II to Philippine scouts . . . .

By March 1942, the Japanese army had marched through Southeast Asia and completely overrun every country and island in the western Pacific with the exception of the Philippines. The Philippines, and MacArthur's army, were alone. On the Bataan peninsula of Luzon Island, the Philippine scouts, a few U.S. Army National Guard units, and 10 divisions of poorly equipped, almost untrained Philippine army soldiers held out for four months against the Japanese.

With the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor in shambles, and the Japanese navy blockading the Philippines, there was no way for America to get reinforcements, food or medicine to the troops on Bataan. Nonetheless, they held out while malaria, dysentery and malnutrition ravaged their ranks, and Japanese attacks drove them further down the Bataan peninsula.

Fresh Japanese troops began a crushing attack on the U.S. forces on Bataan, April 3, 1942. Although the men fought bravely, the Battle of Bataan ended, April 9, 1942, when Gen. Edward King surrendered rather than see any more of his starving, diseased men slaughtered by the advancing Japanese army. At that point, 75,000 men became prisoners of war - about 12,000 Americans and 63,000 Filipinos. What followed was one of the worst atrocities in modern wartime history - the Bataan Death March.

America owes a debt of gratitude to those Philippine Scouts who gave their lives fighting with us in World War II. Posthumous citizenship would be a fitting tribute to their sacrifice.

Currently, the Posthumous Citizenship for Active Duty Service Act does provide a procedure for an alien who is killed while serving on active-duty status with the U.S. Armed Forces during periods of hostilities to be granted posthumous citizenship. The House Report indicated that posthumous citizenship is "a symbolic measure to express that the United States honors the memory of the individual who gave their life for our country."

The statute provides that an alien is eligible for posthumous citizenship if they --

one, served honorably in an active-duty status in the military, air, or naval forces of the United States during any period [of hostilities including World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or other period of hostilities designated by the President by Executive Order (including the current war on terror)];

two, died as a result of injury or disease incurred or aggravated by that service; and

[three, at the time of enlistment, reenlistment, extension of enlistment, or induction were 1) in the United States, the Canal Zone, American Samoa, or Swains Island, or on board a public vessel owned or operated by the United States for noncommercial service, whether or not he was a lawful permanent resident, or 2) at any time subsequent to enlistment or induction had become a lawful permanent resident].

The Philippine Scouts who lost their lives in World War II do not qualify for posthumous citizenship because they cannot meet this third requirement -- essentially, they did not enlist in the United States and were never permanent residents. Representative Walter Jones has introduced H.R. 3449, which would waive this impediment and finally allow America to honor these men. I commend Mr. Jones for introducing this bill and I urge my colleagues to support it.

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