Ambassador apologizes to U.S. vets taken prisoner in Philippines

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Ichiro Fujisaki offered a direct apology Saturday to a group of World War II veterans taken prisoner by the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines.

At ease: World War II veteran Joe Alexander (right), a survivor of the 1942 Bataan Death March, talks with Japanese Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday. AP PHOTO

Thousands of them died during the infamous Bataan Death March and later in prisoner of war camps.

"We extend a heartfelt apology for our country having caused tremendous damage and suffering to many people," Fujisaki said in San Antonio, Texas, at a meeting of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor.

A representative of the group, which is made up of U.S. veterans who fought on Corregidor island and the Bataan Peninsula, said he thinks it was "honorable" of the ambassador to attend the assembly and deliver in person an official apology from the Japanese government.