Fall / Winter 2002

Volume 5 No 2 Page 6

Fall 2004

REMEMBRANCE WEEK 2004 – One of the best ever!

This year’s Remembrance Week ran from November 10th to 17th and was one of the biggest and best ever. Nineteen overseas guests were on hand to take part in the events and the weather co-operated beautifully. We had seven former Taiwan POWs, five from the UK, one from Australia and one from USA – our first ever American ex-POW to return to Taiwan. In addition we had two wives, six FEPOW “children”, one brother, one sister, one nephew and special guest Mrs. Keiko Holmes, the founder and director of Agape Reconciliation Ministries, with us for the event.
We started our tour on Thursday November 11th with a visit to Kinkaseki and Keelung Harbour. After arriving at Chinguashi we made a tour of the former POW camp and held a short private service by the memorial as it was actually Remembrance Day.

Seven POWs re-unite at the old
Kinkaseki Camp gatepost

Following lunch in the pavilion next to the memorial, the group made its way to the top of the hill for a look down on the area of the former mine, and then it was off to the newly opened Museum of Gold. (See story on page 5)
The group was met at the museum by the Curator, Miss Chang and the Deputy Director of the Taipei County Culture Bureau, Mr. Bob Tang, who extended a warm welcome to the POWs and their families. A tour of the mining museum was first on the agenda and everyone was very moved as they saw the display dedicated to the POWs inside. While not a large display, they felt it was a fitting tribute and memorial to what had happened here and to the men who had suffered so much in this place those many years ago.

Former Kinkaseki POWs with
Museum Curator Miss Chang

Following the museum tour the guests went outside where they were given safety helmets and an invitation to go into the mine. While not exactly the same entrance where the POWs actually worked 59 years ago, the entrances all look identical, so the feeling was one of similarity for the men and of apprehension for the family members. For the first time since the end of the war the men had a chance to go back into the mine again, and their families had a chance to see and feel what it must have been like for their fathers.

Group photo in front of
No. 5 Mine Entrance tunnel

Later in the afternoon we made our way to Keelung Harbour, where many of the men had landed when they first arrived in Taiwan aboard the England Maru in November 1942, and where all the remaining Taiwan POWs were evacuated from at the end of the war. It brought back a lot of memories – mostly happy ones of going home - for the men.

Jack Fowler reminiscing on the docks at Keelung Harbour

Friday was spent in sightseeing around Taipei city with visits to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, a temple, lunch at the majestic Grand Hotel, a visit to the National War Memorial and the world famous National Palace Museum rounding out the day’s activities. Saturday morning dawned clear and bright and we were off to the hills south of the city to visit the former Kukutsu POW Camp where the men of Kinkaseki Camp were moved in the spring of 1945 after the mine closed down. After a walk around the former area of the camp a short memorial service was held at the newly re-dedicated memorial. (con’t on page 7)

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