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July 17, 2015

The Honorable Ashton Carter, Ph.D.Secretary of Defense1000 Defense PentagonWashington, DC 20301-1000

Dear Secretary Carter:

We urge you to issue a formal apology on behalf of the Department of Defense (DOD) to thevictims of the U.S. militarys race-based chemical weapons experiments conducted on Americantroops during the Second World War.

In 1991, the Defense Department disclosed that some 60,000 American servicemembers weredeliberately exposed to mustard gas and Lewisite blistering agents during and after the SecondWorld War, but the fact that the Pentagon had conducted race-based chemical weaponsexperiments 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 scopeof the race-based chemical weapons tests became widely recognized.

Documents show that the U.S. military tested mustard gas and various other chemical agents onAfrican American, Puerto Rican and Japanese American soldiers in the misguided belief thatdarker skin was more resistant to the ravages of these horrific weapons of mass destruction. Inmany 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, soldierswere deliberated exposed to chemical agents during war games. White troops, meanwhile, wereused as scientific control groups.

The fact that the military would conduct such testing is unconscionable. While the test subjectswere theoretically volunteers, minority soldiers of that era including African Americans, PuertoRicans and Japanese Americans could not realistically refuse to participate in suchexperiments. You do what they tell you to do and you ask no questions, U.S. Army veteranRollins Edwards, an African American victim of these weapons tests, told NPR.

Because these barbaric experiments were conducted in secret, these servicemembers were forcedto suffer in silence, under the constant threat of a dishonorable discharge or prison time if theywere 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 healthmonitoring of any kind.

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In fact, these veterans could not even tell their doctors about what happened to them, which leftmany of these men unable to receive adequate medical care for long-term illness that often resultfrom exposure to mustard agents. Leukemia, skin cancer, emphysema, asthma, and othermaladies are common among those exposed to mustard gas because it can severely damagehuman DNA, which means that the few remaining survivors are often suffering the consequencesof these experiments to this day. Edwards, for example, told NPR that he still breaks out inrashes in the places where the Armys blistering agents burned him and that his skin flakes offregularly during such outbreaks.

In light of the horrific and morally repugnant nature of these race-based experiments and thecontinued suffering of these men, we ask that you formally apologize to these brave Americanveterans and that they be given an appropriate award for their valor. Further, we ask that theservice records of the men who were subjected to these tests be amended to reflect theirsacrifices and that the DOD immediately turn over all data on these tests to the Department ofVeterans Affairs so that these men can be properly treated. In addition, we believe these bravemen should be compensated for their suffering and that compensation should be extended to thechildren of these veterans, because those descendants are likely suffering as a result of thegenetic damage inflicted to their fathers as a result of exposure to mustard gas and Lewisiteblistering agents.

What was done cannot be undone. No one can take back the pain these men suffered, but thePentagon must atone for its past sins. It is long past time to look these veterans in the eye andfinally say on behalf of the American people that what the United States government did to themwas shameful and wrong, and that we are sorry. While the DOD no longer conducts chemicalweapons experiments on human test subjects, these race-based tests must not be swept under therug. As George Santayana wrote, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeatit.

We look forward to your timely response to this important matter.

Sincerely,

LMichael M. Honda

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