ARTICLES & STORIES

A MAN SENT FROM GOD

     This is the story of a true hero of World War II - the Canadian doctor Major Ben Wheeler, who gave himself to help his fellow prisoners of war in the infamous 'Kinkaseki' Japanese prisoner of war camp on the island of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa).

     Here is what Sgt. Thomas O'Toole of the British Army said about  Ben Wheeler in a letter he wrote after the war, "Now that the world knows of the murders, atrocities and hardships suffered by the POWs in Japanese prison camps, I consider it my...

THE WALL - A VERY SPECIAL PLACE!

The Taiwan POW Memorial Wall in the Taiwan Prisoner of War Memorial Park

Address given by Society Director Michael Hurst MBE at the Remembrance Day Service - November 15th 2015

     Time marches on! It has been 70 years now since the end of World War II and 18 years since we first built and dedicated the Taiwan POW Memorial here in the park. It was just a simple place back then with many trees and walkways and flowers. In the ensuing years it has been changed into the beautiful park you see here today with...

75 YEARS AGO . . . . . EVENTS IN TAIWAN POW HISTORY

2020 is the 75th Anniversary of the end of World War II, and we want to share with our readers a chronology of events that took place in 1945 relative to the Taiwan POWs, to help commemorate their suffering and sacrifice.  

JANUARY

9th - As General Macarthur’s forces made the second major amphibious landing on the        Philippines in the Lingayen Gulf, aircraft from the US Navy carrier Hornet attacked Takao (Kaohsiung) Harbour. The hellship Enoura Maru - part of a convoy of ships that had left the Philippines on December 27th carrying mostly American POWs bound for Japan, was bombed and...

75 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 75 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 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...