ARTICLES & STORIES

80 YEARS LATER - THE AFTERMATH OF WORLD WAR II AND JAPAN TODAY

     The following is a collection of articles and comments regarding the postwar position of the Japanese government and also those of the various allied governments in the aftermath of World War II. Some of these facts will be shocking to readers, but they are included here so that all may know of the corruption and collaboration that has gone on in the 80 years since the end of the world’s greatest conflict.

* The United States granted immunity to Emperor Hirohito and Prince Asaka - who ordered the Rape of Nanking and also the...

REMEMBRANCE DAY 2020

     On Sunday November 15th 2020, the 23rd 'Remembrance Day' service, sponsored by the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society and assisted by the New Zealand Commerce & Industry Office in Taipei, took place on the site of the former Kinkaseki POW Camp in the Taiwan POW Memorial Park in Jinguashi.

     2020 commemorates the 75th anniversary of VJ Day and the end of World War II, and despite the limitations due to Covid-19 it was a wonderful event attended by another record crowd of more than 150 local friends and supporters.

     Unfortunately,...

A WORD ABOUT POW CAMP TOURS IN TAIWAN

From Michael Hurst  MBE, Director, Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society

     It is wonderful to see the increase in the number of visitors coming to Taiwan every year to take part in our POW remembrance programs and tours, and it is exciting to spend time with them ‘following in the footsteps’ of the former POWs. It is an honour and a privilege to be able to host our guests and guide them on tours to the various camps and areas of interest where the story of the Taiwan POWs unfolds.

    However, we have also found...

A CARING SAILOR and the “REST OF THE STORY”

     Many years ago, back when I first started my work of finding and contacting the former Taiwan POWs, Gnr. Ken Pett of the 80th Anti-Tank Reg’t. told me in a letter how that when he was evacuated from Keelung in September 1945 on the aircraft carrier USS Santee, one of the American sailors had given him a little blue Gideon’s New Testament to help and comfort him.

     He was so grateful for that act of kindness and had cherished the Testament all those years, and in gratitude and respect he wanted to...

THE SEPTEMBER 1944 HELLSHIPS

     Many people know about the Death Railway and the ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’, but fewer know what happened to the POWs who worked on the railway after its completion in October 1943. Following the linking of the rails at Konkoita Thailand, the bulk of the men were gathered up and moved back down the line to camps in Kanchanaburi and ChungKai. Here with a little better food, some rest and medical care, the men began to get well, and seeing this the Japanese decided that these men were fit enough to be sent...

THE REMEMBRANCE DAY SERVICE AT KINKASEKI - VIDEO

     Over the past 26 years a number of the former Taiwan POWs - and many of their family members, have returned to be with us for our Remembrance Day service in Taiwan.

     The ceremony takes place every year in November on the weekend closest to the 11th and is held in the Taiwan Prisoner of War Memorial Park which is located on the site of the former Kinkaseki Prisoner of War Camp in Jinguashi. In addition to the former POWs and their family members, we are joined by local friends and...

TRIP TO KINKASEKI - TAIWAN - NOVEMBER 2009

by Peter Bowkett IN MEMORY OF HAROLD VINCENT BOWKETT

Cpl. Harold V. Bowkett, 9/11th Indian Division Signals -  standing back row, second from left. Taken in England just before the war. 

   I suspect the earliest part of planning for this trip actually must have started when I was a young boy - seven or eight years of age - at home in Clydach as I recall one day asking Dad why he had scars on his back and he told me that they were from working in the copper mine whilst he was at...

REMEMBRANCE WEEKEND 2011

     November 9-16 were the dates for this year’s “Remembrance Week” event which takes place annually to honour the former Taiwan prisoners of war and the veterans who suffered so much for our freedom. It is organized by the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society, and was co-hosted this year by the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei.

     There were three major events held this year in conjunction with the regular week-long program that the POW Society provides for its overseas guests. The first was the dedication of the Taihoku Camp # 6 POW...