MARCH 16 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 21). 1949.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. MCCARRAN, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 850]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (S. 850) conferring United States citizenship posthumously upon Vaso B. Benderach, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill (S. 850) do pass.

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of the bill is to confer United States citizenship posthumously upon Vaso B. Benderach, a Yugoslav flier, who served honorably with the Fifteenth Air Force of the United States, and who died on May 7, 1948, while a patient at Fitzsimons General Hospital, Colo.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The pertinent facts in this case are then set forth in the letter of the assistant to the Attorney General to the then chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, dated June 7, 1948, with reference to a similar bill passed by the Senate in the Eightieth Congress, which letter reads as follows:

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE;

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL,
Washington, June 7, 1948.

Hon. ALEXANDER WILEY,

Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR SENATOR: This is in response to your request for the views of this Department relative to the bill (S. 2662) conferring United States citizenship posthumously upon Vaso B. Benderach.

The bill would provide that Vaso B. Benderach, a Yugoslav flier who served honorably with the Fifteenth Air Force of the United States, and who died on

May 7, 1948, while a patient at Fitzsimons General Hospital, Colorado, shall be considered to have been a citizen of the United States at the time of his death. The files of the Immigration and Naturalization Service of this Department disclose that at the time of his death the alien was a 29-year-old native and citizen of Yugoslavia. He was single and his parents are dead. His two brothers and a sister reside in Yugoslavia and his only close relative in the United States is an uncle residing at Bisbee, Ariz. He first arrived in the United States in October of 1942 as a member of the Yugoslav Royal Air Force to receive training in this country. He left the United States on October 20, 1943, and was taken prisoner by the Germans in November of 1943. After his liberation in September of 1944, he served with a Yugoslav detachment in the Three Hundred and Seventy-sixth Bombardment Group, and in the Four Hundred and Fifty-fifth Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Force. It appears that he contracted tuberculosis while a prisoner of war, and was brought to the United States as a hospital patient on October 19, 1945, when he was immediately transferred to the Fitzsimons General Hospital, where he died.

On July 30, 1947, Private Law No. 102 was enacted to provide for the expeditious naturalization of seven Yugoslav fliers who were attached to the Three Hundred and Seventy-sixth Bombardment Group. It appears that the only reason that the alien was not included among the Yugoslav fliers who were naturalized under that act was because he was not physically able to be inducted, or to enlist in the United States Army, although he had performed meritorious service during the war. The record indicates that a group of 50 Yugoslav fliers, including the beneficiary of this bill, who were attached to the Three Hundred and Seventy-sixth Bombardment Group, fought bravely with the Allies. At the time of his death, two bills (S. 2128 and H. R. 5331) to legalize his permanent residence in this country, and to waive certain specified requirements of the naturalization laws in his case, were pending in the Congress.

Whether the bill under consideration should be enacted presents a question of legislative policy concerning which this Department prefers not to make any recommendation.

Yours sincerely,

PEYTON FORD,

The Assistant to the Attorney General.

The committee, after consideration of all the facts in the case, is of the opinion that the bill (S. 850) should be enacted and it therefore accordingly so recommends its enactment.

MARCH 16 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 21), 1949.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. MCCARRAN, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 937]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (S. 937) to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to effect the payment of certain claims against the United States, having considered the same, report favorably thereon, without amendment, and recommend that the bill do pass.

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to authorize and direct the Secretary of the Treasury to pay to four individual noncitizens of the United States a sum of money necessary to effect a full and final settlement of their claims against the United States.

STATEMENT

January 27, 1949, the Department of State submitted to the Vice President a request that legislation be initiated to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to pay awards to certain citizens of other countries for injuries received at the hands of certain citizens of the United States. The negotiations under which the nature and the extent of the awards were determined were conducted by the Department of State.

The facts relating to the claim of the beneficiary named in paragraph (a) of the bill are as follows:

1. CLAIM OF THE GOVERNMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN ON BEHALF OF STOKER JOHN BAILEY OF H. M. S. "ORION"

Stoker John Bailey of H. M. S. Orion sustained injuries at the hands of John Ittner, aviation machinist's mate, second class, United States Navy, at Seattle, Wash., on July 16, 1939. The circumstances

surrounding the incident are set forth in the following excerpts from a letter of July 18, 1939, from the captain of H. M. S. Orion to the British consul at Seattle, which accompanied a note of August 7, 1940, addressed to the Department of State by the British Ambassador:

On the evening of July 15 Stokers Smith and Bailey in the company of two girls, who gave the names of Norma and Rose, visited a tavern in Seattle. There they met a man in civilian clothes who was identified later as a United States naval rating, John Ittner, aviation machinist's mate, second class, stationed at the Naval Air Station, Sand Point. Ittner spoke to the girl Norma but no argument took place.

Stokers Smith and Bailey, with their two companions, left the tavern and went to the Boston Cafe, where they sat down in a booth with a table between them and ordered coffee. Ittner did not accompany them. Soon afterward Stokers Brewster and Chilton entered the cafe. They spoke to Bailey for a few moments about the afternoon's boat race and then sat down at a separate table opposite to and in full view of Bailey's party.

When the coffee had arrived at Bailey's table, Ittner entered the cafe, took a chair and drew it up to the end of Bailey's table so that he was sitting on Bailey's right and half-facing him. Ittner then picked up a glass, broke off the top of it on the table and jabbed or threw the broken base into Bailey's face. Prior to this incident there had been no conversation or argument between Ittner and Bailey's party whilst in the Boston Cafe. Ittner then ran out of the cafe. The witnesses state that he had obviously been drinking.

In the above-mentioned note of the British Ambassador the following statements appear:

Stoker Bailey was taken to the United States naval hospital at Seattle and his damaged eye was there removed on the advice of United States naval eye specialists. He was incapacitated for further service and has had to leave the Royal Navy. As his disability cannot be attributed to naval service he is not entitled to a pension, but his future is naturally a matter of concern to His Majesty's Government since apart from any other considerations he is one of four orphan brothers, the eldest of whom is now serving in the Army, and has no relatives who can contribute to his support. He is 21 years of age and his character while in the Royal Navy was described as "very good."

Ittner was duly tried by court martial by the United States naval authorities but was found not guilty on the charges preferred against him. Nevertheless all the information in the possession of His Majesty's Government tends to show that Ittner was solely responsible for the accident. The narrative of the three stokers enclosed herein indicates that the assault was wholly unprovoked and this narrative is substantially corroborated by the evidence of the other witnesses quoted in the second enclosure. Furthermore, Commander Fairlamb, Ittner's commanding officer, in letters addressed to the commanding officer of H. M. S. Orion and to His Majesty's consul at Seattle on July 22 and October 5, 1939, respectively, made it clear that in his view Stoker Bailey was in no way to blame and that he had in fact been "the victim of a jealous though not premeditated attack by Ittner."

* * * His Majesty's Government feel that in the special circumstances of the case the United States Government might wish to consider the possibility of making an ad misericordiam grant to Stoker Bailey.

In a communication of September 7, 1940, to the State Department the Navy Department stated:

The records of the Navy Department disclose that the facts and circumstances growing out of this altercation are as related in the note from the British Embassy enclosed with your letter.

Ittner was tried by summary court martial on July 27, 1939, and acquitted. It was the opinion of the reviewing authority and the Navy Department that the acquittal resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

It is the Navy Department's view that the circumstances of this case warrant an ad misericordiam grant to Stoker Bailey. To do this would, of course, require special legislation

In a communication of November 9, 1940, to the State Department the Navy Department stated that it would favor legislative relief for Bailey, but is precluded from taking the initiative in the matter.

It is believed that a grant in the sum of 750 pounds (the equivalent of $3,024.38 at the exchange rate of 4.0325) on behalf of Stoker John Bailey is warranted in the circumstances, and it is recommended that the Congress appropriate such amount as may be necessary to effect a final settlement of the claim on that basis.

The facts relating to the claim of the beneficiary named in paragraph (b) of the bill are as follows:

II. CLAIM OF THE GOVERNMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN ON BEHALF OF THE PARENTS OF J. D. WIGGINS, ASSISTANT COOK ON THE BRITISH VESSEL STEAMSHIP "SAMBRE"

On November 23, 1945, J. D. Wiggins, a British subject, assistant cook on the British steamship Sambre, while in a sampan on the Whangpoo River at Shanghai, was wounded by rifle shots fired by John B. Coyne, seaman, second class, an armed sentry aboard the U. S. S. Carter Hall. He died of his wounds on November 23, 1945, aboard the U. S. S. Repose.

The board of investigation instituted by order of commander, Task Force 73, on November 26, 1945, declared:

It is the opinion of the board that John B. Coyne, seaman, second class, United States Navy, fired his rifle without reasonable cause or provocation, in that there was no evidence to indicate that the sampan involved was a menace or threat to the ship's security. It is the opinion of the board that he, John B. Coyne, seaman, second class, United States Navy, acted without due cause or circumspection and with a recklessness which implied indifference to the consequences.

The board also expressed the view that appropriate steps had not been taken to insure that sentries aboard the U. S. S. Carter Hall "were properly instructed, selected, trained, and supervised.”

The matter was brought to the attention of the Department of State by a note of July 22, 1946, from the British Ambassador, in which inquiry was made whether the Department was prepared to take the necessary steps to provide compensation for the decedent's next of kin. The inquiry is said to have been prompted by the fact that in the correspondence with the National Union of Seamen, London, the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy suggested that any request for relief on behalf of the next of kin should be made through diplomatic channels.

At the time of his death the decedent was 21 years of age, and as assistant cook on the steamship Sambre was receiving compensation at the rate of £23.10.0. It is stated that the decedent made weekly allotments to his parents, his father having been incapacitated by ill health for a number of years. It has been recommended that in view of all the circumstances of the case a single payment of 3,000 pounds would be an appropriate sum in compensation to the dependent father and mother of the decedent. The Department concurs in this recommendation.

It is accordingly recommended that the Congress appropriate such amount as may be necessary to effect a final settlement of the claim by the payment of 3,000 pounds (the equivalent of $12,097.50 at the exchange rate of 4.0325).