CC 02-28-2018 Exhibit Oral Communications1
A Designated Memorial Site in Cupertino Memorial Park
February 20, 2018
This proposal is a two-part plan requesting the City Council to consider the following:
1) Designate an area of adequate size within Cupertino Memorial Park as a Memorial Site
to honor American volunteers, who have generously and unselfishly extended helping
hands to assist those in need, and the civilian victims of violence in war and peace time;
2) Approve a project that will construct a Memorial monument along with certain structures
for the purpose of honoring these volunteers and civilian victims as the first installation
within the designated Memorial Site.
1) Memorial Site to honor volunteers and civilian victims (V& CV Memorial Site)
The purpose of such a V& CV Memorial Site is to honor and pay tribute to the volunteers
and civilian victims of wars, both foreign and domestic. It serves to educate the public about (1)
the virtue of volunteerism; (2) the cruelty and perversity of war and the importance of peace.
The designation of a V& CV Memorial Site within Cupertino Memorial Park is consistent with
the purpose and spirit of the Park, which is to honor those local veterans whose lives were lost
during service. The V& CV Memorial Site serves to further honor our veterans by remembering
the volunteers who have made complementary contributions to assist those who are in needs, the
victims of violence in peace time, and the horrendous crimes against humanity that our veterans
fought to eliminate in order to provide us with peace.
In existence throughout the United States and abroad are many similar designations of the
proposed Memorial Site at public or private parks, museums, and buildings. Examples include
the National Holocaust Museum in Washington DC which is in proximity to the National Mall;
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the Museum of Tolerances; and several Holocaust museums in Israel. More locally are Lincoln
Park and St. Mary Square Park in San Francisco and Holocaust Grove at Sonoma State
University to which many Cupertino residents continue to visit and contribute by installing a
number of memorial bricks, plaques, and monuments since its inception in 2009 (please see
http://www.sonoma.edu/holocausegrove/). Holocaust Grove includes memorials for not just
victims of the Holocaust, but also those of the Armenian Genocide, Cambodia Killing Fields,
Darfur Genocide, 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Native Americans Genocide, and the Pacific War.
Cupertino is known as a great city of technological achievements, but that is only half of
what makes Cupertino a great city. The other half of the equation is its people. The people of
Cupertino are a testament to the world of how peace can co-exist with diversity and promote
tremendous success. Cupertino is a city where people of many different ethnicities and cultural
backgrounds live peacefully together and work together to create the innovative, futuristic ideas
which make Silicon Valley world-renowned. Complementing the existing Veterans Memorial
with a memorial site to cherish volunteerism and to honor civilian victims of war and peace time
violence will give our citizens pride in who they are and what they represent - peace and success.
2) Specifically the proposed V& CV Memorial monument shall pay tribute to volunteerism
as well as symbolize the torment endured by victims and veterans of the Pacific War and serve as
a reminder of the horrendous crimes against humanit y that occurred across multiple nations—the
Philippines, Hawaii, Guam, Korean, China, the South Pacific, etc.
The construction of the V& CV Memorial Site monument shall require an area designated by
the city for this purpose—approximately 60 to 100 square feet, located inside the V& CV
Memorial Site and preferably near the back entrance of the Quinlan Community Center (map
attached).
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All labor and materials cost as well as the expenses for the administration of construction and
ceremonial events will be paid for by a dedicated trust fund raised and administered by a “special
‘V& CV Memorial Site’ monument committee” appointed by the City Council to ascertain that
there shall be no fiscal impact to Cupertino city and its residents for the installation of this
monument. A total of $10,000 shall be deposited into the trust fund within 10 days after the
certification of required signatures in support of this project by the city clerk. The deposit shall
be immediately refunded to the contributors should the initiative fail for any reason.
The architecture, detailed design, and the language used in the plaque on the monument and
any wall/ground bricks shall be reviewed and approved by the special monument committee and
the relevant city departments for appropriateness and decency.
We are formally submitting this proposal to the Council and requesting a review and a vote
to place this proposed item into the Fiscal Year 2018 Public Work Plan – Capital Improvement
Projects (a.k.a. FY2018-CIP).
4
THE UNKNOWN HOLOCAUST OF ANDAMANS
Perceptions differ about the massacres carried out by the Germans and the Japanese. Hitler and Hirohito
were both tyrants and scourge of humanity who brought misery to innocent men, women and children.
Historians and Allies have taken cognizance of what happened in Europe during WW II but have failed
to do justice to all that occurred in East and Southeast Asia. The slaughter of French in Oradaur-sur-
Glane; of Czechs in Lidice; of Jews in Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Ravensbruck; of Syrians at Hama
and the Palestinian massacre in Lebanon are well known all over the world. But the people are not aware
of the Japanese brutalities at Manchukuo, Chahar, Hopeh, Tientsin, Shanghai, Nanking, Philippines,
Malaya, Singapore, Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
For Asians WW II started in 1931 with the occupation of Southeast Manchuria; for Africans in 1935
with the attack on Abyssinia; for Europeans in 1939 and for Americans in December 1941. For the
Chinese 1930s were most terrible as they suffered humiliation and horrors, They underwent the worst
tortures that Japanese soldiers indulged in, and were made victims of their indescribable ruthlessness.
The story of China, particularly that of Nanking would have gone into oblivion but for a few Americans
and Europeans who were witnesses to crimes committed by the Japanese. A number of Chinese too
survived to relate the story of woe. Iris Chang a Chinese American, author of “The Rape of Nanking” is
a living legend who has courageously unfolded this tragic tale. Her book, I’m sure will survive as a
classic among the annals of history – a marvelous contribution to the culture, heritage and civilization of
China.
In a country like USA only a few secondary school textbooks mention Nanking. No definitive Historians
of WW II have discussed such events of historical importance. The “American Heritage Picture History
of WW II” does not contain even a single photograph of Nanking. There is no mention of Nanking in
Winston Churchill’s memoirs of WW II and Henry Michael’s books. I could find only one paragraph in
Robert Leckie’s “Delivered from Evil”.
There is a big question mark in my mind, as to why the Rape of Nanking; the Bataan march in Manila
and the massacre of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands failed to stir the consciousness of mankind. In my
opinion it’s roots lie in global politics. The emergence of People’s Republic of China in 1949 and a
powerful USSR after 1945 changed the political scenario…. The cold war. Communist China, USA,
England the government at Farmusa and many other countries involved in war, did not demand any war
time reparations. In sharp contrast Israel was fully compensated by Germany. The looming threat of
communism pushed USA and her Allies towards their former enemy Japan. Thus Japan escaped
unscathed from any obligation towards the conquerors.
Japan is a country with closed mind. It’s people, scholars and their Parliament (Diet) are adamant to
stifle, open and scholarly discussions of the Rape of Nanking and other heinous crimes committed by it s
army and the civil administration during WW II. The Japanese have purged all references to the crimes
committed against humanity. Even the slaughter of Nanking does not figure in their textbooks and the
photos have been removed from museums. In contrast Germany is better placed morally as well as
politically. The Jews have not allowed the Germans to forget what they did 60 years ago.
The Japanese culture will remain stagnant until it apologizes not only to the countries it conquered but
itself, how improper and shameless were its actions, particularly the innovation of the institution of
comfort girls half a century ago.
The story of the Japanese carnage in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is altogether different. It is
unknown even to its countrymen and the government is indifferent to this important event of history.
The chain of these islands is situated in the Bay of Bengal at a distance of 780 miles from Calcutta, 740
miles from Madras and 120 miles from Cape Nargis in Burma. Like the Pentoville prison at Port Arthur
the British colonized these islands for the transportation of criminals and freedom fighters.
Details of inhuman slaughter of innocent, unarmed Indians at Port Blair may stimulate academicians and
research scholars to make a fresh appraisal of the freedom movement of India. This will increase our
awareness and understanding of the Nippon government and its ruthless army. History seeks an answer
to this vexed question that willy-nilly shall have to be answered, and Japan might look at its past with
humility. The fresh information of the dirty war that Japan waged against China and Korea erodes
Japan’s pretense of innocence and its distortion of history has been challenged. The radicals in Japan
had forced the Japanese Diet to make oblique admissions of their war crimes.
Twenty thousand Japanese soldiers landed at different places in South Andamans on March 23, 1942.
There was no resistance from the local population and within 3 hours they were in complete control of
the islands. A big crowd gathered at the jetty to welcome them. The Japanese used those that were there
to welcome them as laborers for unloading arms ammunition and stores. The same afternoon a different
group of soldiers pounced like hungry wolves on sho ps, looting everything they could lay their hands
on. Some of the groups entered the most populous area of Aberdeen and indulged in looting and taking
liberty with the women. The inmates looked at them helplessly with dazed eyes. Their oppressive and
most undignified behavior stunned the people who never expected such misconduct from the Japanese
who had innovated the dogma of co-prosperity of Southeast Asia.
A young man Zulfikar Ali picked up his BB gun and fired a few shots in the air to scare them away. The
Japanese ran away but came back soon with a large armed force and laid siege of the town. In the
meantime Zulfi as he was called somehow escaped to another area to avoid the Japanese wrath. They
ransacked the whole town and misbehaved with women and young girls. They asked the villagers to
produce the boy next morning, failing which they would have to face the consequences. While they were
leaving they set fire to the house and in no time the rising flames engulfed the nearby houses too as they
were made of wood. A few responsible people approached their undisputed leader Dr. Diwan Singh
Kalepani for his advice. He told them to produce the boy next morning.
Early next morning, six Japanese soldiers dragged the boy in front of the villagers. He was beaten,
kicked and fiercely thrashed till he was unconscious. Again they lifted this half-dead boy, broke his
joints and bones and made him the target of bayonet charge. His grave in Port Blair will ever remind the
butchery of the Japanese soldiers. To soothe the feelings of the Indians, after a few days the Japanese
charged A G Bird, a British POW on the charge of spying. The same drill was repeated and his body
was cut in small pieces for the animals to eat. His head was hanged on a tree. In a daring move, Diwan
Singh and Sebastian Pinto (assistant to the doctor) collected A.G. Birds remains to give a decent
Christian burial. The Japanese took serious offense to this.
To strengthen their hold, a civil government was established. A governor was appointed who was to be
assisted by the vice-admiral. The Japanese indulged in the rape and abduction of women. The soldiers in
liaison with civil police would enter the houses of the people and forcibly rape women and indulge in
sodomy with young boys. The Japanese surpassed, Halaku and Chengiz Khan in deriving pleasure from
the unbelievable orgies they engaged themselves in. The conditions in the villages situated in the
hinterland became so pathetic, that a number of local borns became collaborators to gain favors from the
unscrupulous Japanese.
Diwan Singh, the healer of the people, was their only ray of hope. He, as Director Health, President of
the Indian Independence League, Indian National Army, Peace Committee and Seva Samti met with the
Governor every day to seek intervention for the mit igation of peoples misery. This provoked the
Japanese police and administration so much, that with the help of local collaborators they started
poisoning the ears of the Governor. But Diwan Singh continued to serve his people undeterred.
To further strengthen their hold, and to create awe among the people, the Japanese arrested eight high
ranking Indian officials who were considered to be very close to them in the first spy case in October
1943. They were tortured and beaten for a number of days to extract false confessions. After they
confessed, they were starved and taken to an isolated place. They were forced to dig a trench and buried
alive up to the waist. The soldiers then struck them in their eyes, head and waist with their bayonets,
then sprayed bullets till they were dead. Diwan Singh made a strong protest with the Governor and the
Vice Admiral. To silence him the Peace Committee was dissolved.
Diwan Singh was arrested on October 23, 1943. On entering the jail, he was jeered, abused and beaten
mercilessly. In a weeks time, all his 2000 associates who were the members of the Peace Committee,
IIL, INA, Seva Samti and Punjabi Society, were also arrested and huddled in the Cellular Jail. The
Japanese beat and tortured them with water treatment, electric shocks, hanging upside down, and
burning heaps of paper under their thighs. A very large number of them died some committed suicide
and a few made false confessions to save their lives. They were taken to a far-flung place, killed and
buried.
Diwan Singh was brutally tortured for eighty-two days, a parallel of which is difficult to find in human
history. Hung with his hair from the ceiling. At other occasions, his ankles tied to the ceiling, water was
pumped through his mouth and nostrils, and he was t ied to a stake and bones crunched and subjected to
electric shocks. Fire was burned under his thighs; nails pulled from his fingers and toes. Flesh from
various parts of his body was pulled daily, and he was forced to sit on a charcoal stove. His eyeballs
were gouged, but the Japanese failed to break his spirits. He shed his mortal coil on 14 January 1944.
After his death the Japanese let loose a reign of terror. Young girls and women were forcibly taken to
the officers club to give comfort to the Japanese elite and army officers. The Japanese took sadist
pleasure in forcing the father to rape the daughter, the son to rape the mother and the brother to rape the
sister. Not satisfied with this a shipload of Korean girls was also brought to give comfort to every
soldier.
It was free for all. Men, women and children were shot dead or hacked by sword for no reason. A group
of men and women, with their children were returning home after a day’s toil at some Japanese officers’
houses. They were stopped by a soldier for search and were found carrying a few ounces of sugar, rice
and flour as a gesture of favor from the Japanese officers. He lined them on the road and shot them.
Such brutal incidents happened every day at one or the other place. Most men were forced to work as
laborers, from dawn till dusk for the construction of an airfield. Whenever one was found a little
lethargic or sick with pain he was beaten and killed (from the notes of Ramakrishna sent to the Ministry
of Home Affairs for publication).
In the first week of June 1945 hundreds of educated families’ were lodged in the cellular jail on a false
promise that they are being taken to a virgin soil to lead a comfortable life. They were boarded on a
number of transport crafts. On sighting the Havelock Island, situated at a distance of 50 miles from Port
Blair they were ordered to jump in the sea. Whoever hesitated was beaten with the rifle butts, some were
struck with swords and bayonets. Out of 1,500, about 250 swam ashore to die of hunger and starvation.
In a fortnight half of them died; the rest were struggling to survive on the leaves and bark of trees, as the
soil was saline and unproductive. In the end only one person named Mohammed Saudagar survived to
tell the story of woe.
Within a week of this cold-blooded massacre the Japanese again chased people from villages and lodged
them in a central village to facilitate their transportation to a nearby island. After keeping them hungry
for 24 hours they were taken to Tarmugli Island. All the 900 people were tied with trees for the soldiers’
bayonet practice. Petrol was sprinkled and they were burned to ashes while some of them were still
alive.
More than 2,000 people were crammed in the cellular jail and due to the shortage of space the remaining
few hundred were kept in Thokuman and Namtal. They were starved beaten and a large number of them
died. Apart from these massacres hundreds of people were killed in villages and on roads. The whole
island had become an inferno.
Out of the total population of 40,000 in Port Blair, 30,000 were annihilated. Crompton Mackenzie an
eminent British writer who visited the islands immediately after the re-occupation observed, “my mind
was too full of the horrors of the Japanese occupation…. They managed to exterminate one way or the
other 7000 in one go”. The observations of the mass killings have been confirmed by the inquiries
conducted by the British occupation forces and post war trials held at Port Blair and Singapore. The
Allied inquiry into the Andaman incidents reads: “Brigadier J.A. Solomans commander of allied forces
has ordered a thorough investigation into the findings of 110 skeletons on the sands of Havelock
islands…. About 700 natives including women and children were told that they were to form a new
colony on Havelock Island…. A few hundred yards fro m the island they were attacked and flung into
the sea…. A search party from H.M.I.S. Narbuda found 2 survivors and 114 skeletons”. The Japanese
Vice Admiral Teizohara in his defense at Singapore said: “513 people were lodged in jail…. They were
landed at Havelock…. Sixty men were isolated at Port Campbell”. A number of local women also
appeared as witnesses in the court of M.J.K. Sullivan. Their evidence is a testimony of sexual crimes
committed by the Japanese army.
In the Indian Parliament Finance Minister K.R. Ganesh (MP from Andamans) has confirmed these
details when he told the stunned parliament, “ 2/3 of the houses and ¾ of the population was destroyed
by the Japanese in the Andamans”. He also said, “there was one Dr. Diwan Singh who was tortured for
three months for standing with his people”.
On disembarking from the first British relief ship in the first week of September 1945, Mr. Foster I.F.S.
remarked, “I found all convict settlements deserted; villages were dilapidated on account of mass
murders; men, women and children were almost naked and a number of them covered their bodies with
gunny bags…. Widows, orphans and physically maimed people were wailing…. It was a pathetic
scene”.
This holocaust is unknown to the world; maybe because it was a penal settlement for the dreaded
convicts and freedom fighters. The world along with Japan grieves every year for the victims of the
atom bomb. But the historians and the journalists have not made any efforts to unmask the mass killings
of innocent people at Port Blair; complete devastation of an Indian Island; continuos suffering of the
people for a period of three and a half years. The Japanese politicians and bureaucrats have made
deliberate efforts to distort the facts of history. Posterity will ask uncomfortable questions about the
vandalism of the Japanese and the role played by them for the freedom of India in collaboration with
Subash Chandar Bose. Ironically, Bose was in Port Blair between 29-31 December 1943. He visited the
cellular jail where Diwan Singh, the president of the Indian Independence League and hundreds of his
companions were languishing but he did not visit them. After wining, dining and dancing in the Ross
Island he went back to Singapore. This is how Tojo helped Bose to get freedom for India from the
British.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East has taken note of the Nanking massacre, the bataan
march in Manila where hundreds starved and the sick fell dead; of the savage treatment meted out to the
laborers engaged in the Siam-Burma railway line, of men exiled to the New Guinea and Papua Islands to
die a slow death and about the medical experiments of the Japanese on their POW’s. But it has not made
even a reference to the holocaust in the Andamans.
The Rape of Nanking would have gone into the dustbin of history but for some foreigners who not only
stayed to witness the horrors of the Japanese atrocities but also sent information to the western world. A
fairly large number of Chinese survived to relate this gory tale of unbridled military adventuresome of
the Japanese army. The diaries of John Rape and Wilhelmina Vaturin – commitment of Dr. Wilson and
Smythe; dispatches of Frank Tilban Durdin of New York Times, Archibald Steele of Chicago Daily
News and C. Yates MacDaniel of Associated Press acted as beacons of light during the greatest
bloodbath of world history. Similarly, the contribution of Raoul Wallenbergs, a Swedish diplomat in
saving the lives of 100,000 Jews by giving false passports, Schindler, a nazi in saving 1200 Jews from
the Auschwitz gas chamber and the courage of Mies Giep, an Austrian to give shelter to young Anne
Frank and her family in her attic in Amsterdam cannot be forgotten. But the story of Andaman is all
together different. There was only one Dr. Diwan Singh, the dark times failed to paralyze and who set
aside all precautions in resisting the unpredictable Japanese. This gruesome event of Japanese barbarism
must be unfolded to convince the world about the ‘Dirty War’ waged by the Japanese. The boundaries of
Japanese misdeeds are wide and scattered.
This international conference of scholars, writers, historians’ journalists and human rights champions
should ponder on my suggestion.
Mohindar Singh Dhillon
Advisor Education to the Punjab Govt.
(RETD)
1437 sector 42-B
Chandigarh, India
E-mail – Kalepani@aol.com
Reference:
1. A Titan In The Andamans: Diwan Singh Kalepani
2. A Gurdwara dedicated to a Noble Man
1
Memorial of Volunteers and Victims
in War and Peace Time
•Part I: Volunteerism – An American Virtue
•Part II: Civilian Victims of War and Peace
Time Atrocities
Memorial of Volunteers and Victims
in War and Peace Time
Overview
American Army
Engineering Corp 1944
Burma Road
(China-Burma-India)
American Engineer & Chinese Indigene
American Army Engineering Corp 1944
Burma Road (China-Burma-India)
American Army Engineering Corp 1944
Burma Road (China-Burma-India)American Volunteers and
“Flying Tigers” in the
International Airmen
Memorial Park in
Nanjing, China (1932 - 1945)
2
WWII Battlefield Volunteers
Norman Bethune and Doctors from India
Holocaust & Genecide Memorial Grove
Sonoma State University Bricks of Memory
“Comfort Women” Column of Strength
St. Mary Square Park, San Francisco
3
Local & Domestic Volunteers
•Cupertino Volunteer Groups – e.g. West Valley
Community Services, De Anza Lions Club, etc.
•Silicon Valley Doctors and “Doctors Without
Borders”
•Shin-Shin Educational Foundation (Founded in
1985)& Cupertino Rotary Club Collaboration –
Building Schools in Rural China
•SIL International (a.k.a. Summer Institute of
Linguistics) – volunteers from Cupertino
•More . . . .
Other Historic Lessons Learned
•340,000 victims slaughtered in Nanjing
Massacre (December 1937-March 1938)
•Massacre and sexual slavery on Andaman
Islands, India during WWII
•Civilian casualties in the Pearl Harbor
Attack
•More than 3,000 victims of “9-11, 2001”
•Victims of gun violence and massacres in the
United States
Next Steps
Allocation and Funding
•New Cupertino City “Committee for
Civilian Memorial”
•Raise fund by a designated fundraising sub-
committee from local and outside sources
(foundations and individuals)
•Cost zero dollars to the city budget for
design and installation
•City designates a 60 ft. by 100 ft. space in the
Memorial Park for this purpose (map)
Timeline
•March 2018 - City Council approval
•+? wks - Appoint committee members
•+? wks - Convene first committee meeting
•+? wks - Initiate incorporation and 501(c)(3) appl.
•+? wks - Begin design planning, announce plan
and process for selection of architect & design, as
well as site design/installation time table
•+?? wks - Begin fundraising
•+?? wks - Deposit first installment of seed money
for memorial site; accept architecture proposals
•+?? wks - Announce selected architect and design;
finalize a phased installation schedule
Conclusion
•Complementary to the Existing Veterans
Memorial at the City Park
•Appropriately Represents the Diversity of
the Cupertino Citizenry, Our Roots and
Our Endeared Values
•Presents Another Dimension, Humanity,
of Our City vs. the Technological Side of
Our Community and Residents
Questions & Answers