MICHAEL M. HONDA COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS 17TH DISTRICT, CALIFORNIA SUBCOMMITrEES: WASHINGTON OFFICE: COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, 1713 LONGWORTH HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING EDUCATION WASHINGTON, DC 20515 PHONE: (202) 225—2631 FAX: (202) 225—2699 SENIOR WHIP http://www.honda.house.gov DISTRICT OFflCE: ~ ot t~je ~niteb ~tate~ AMER~ANCAUCUS,CH~REMErnTUS SUITE 670W SUSTAINABLE ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT PHONE:(408)436-2720 ~ of 3aepre~entatibe~ COALITION, VICE CHAIR (855) 680—3759 LGBT EOUALITY CAUCUS, FAX: (408)436—2721 VICE CHAIR July 17, 2015 The Honorable Ashton Carter, Ph.D. Secretary of Defense 1000 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-1000 Dear Secretary Carter: We urge you to issue a formal apology on behalf of the Department of Defense (DOD) to the victims of the U.S. military’s race-based chemical weapons experiments conducted on American troops during the Second World War. In 1991, the Defense Department disclosed that some 60,000 American servicemembers were deliberately exposed to mustard gas and Lewisite blistering agents during and after the Second World War, but the fact that the Pentagon had conducted race-based chemical weapons experiments was virtually unknown until 2008. And it was not until National Public Radio (NPR) journalist Caitlin Dickerson compiled a story in June 2015 that the size, scale, and scope of the race-based chemical weapons tests became widely recognized. Documents show that the U.S. military tested mustard gas and various other chemical agents on African American, Puerto Rican and Japanese American soldiers in the misguided belief that darker skin was more resistant to the ravages of these horrific weapons of mass destruction. In many cases, liquid mustard gas was applied directly onto the soldiers’ skin. In other experiments, men were locked inside gas chambers while mustard gas was piped inside. Sometimes, soldiers were deliberated exposed to chemical agents during war games. White troops, meanwhile, were used as scientific control groups. The fact that the military would conduct such testing is unconscionable. While the test subjects were theoretically volunteers, minority soldiers of that era including African Americans, Puerto Ricans and Japanese Americans could not realistically refuse to participate in such experiments. “You do what they tell you to do and you ask no questions,” U.S. Army veteran Rollins Edwards, an African American victim of these weapons tests, told NPR. Because these barbaric experiments were conducted in secret, these servicemembers were forced to suffer in silence, under the constant threat of a dishonorable discharge or prison time if they were to speak up. As such, their sacrifices are not recorded on their military records. Moreover, the Pentagon failed to provide these men with follow-up health care or long-term health monitoring of any kind. PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER