LOS ANGELES—He was forced to toil in enemy mines as a prisoner of war, but James Murphy wasn’t angry or bitter. He was just happy to have lived long enough to hear the Japanese apology he had sought for seven decades.
Murphy, a POW during World War II and now 94 years old, accepted an unprecedented apology from Mitsubishi Materials Corp. on Sunday on behalf of his fellow POWs, few of whom remain alive, in a ceremony that was both solemn and joyful.
“This is a glorious day,” said Murphy, who stood tall and slender in a gray suit at the ceremony and looked much younger than his 94 years. “For 70 years, we wanted this.”
