Following our stay in London we spent a couple of weeks visiting with family and some of our FEPOW friends in the UK. Our first stop was at the home of Maurice and Barbara Rooney where we spent a relaxing few days catching up on all the POW news – and playing around with Maurice’s computer! We also had a day out with Gaye Brown, Diane Frost and her husband visiting my maternal ancestral home at Blakeney on the north coast of Norfolk.
Following our stay in Norfolk, we took the train to Long Eaton and spent a few days with Stan Vickerstaff and his son Roger. While there we visited with Jim and Lynn Brennan on the first afternoon, and the next day we went to Shrewsbury to see Katherine Heard and her daughter Pat Riley and husband John. On the way we stopped at the National Arboretum at Alrewas for a brief look around (see article on page 6). The following day was spent with Eric and Joan Carter and Paul Morrell, a young man who is keenly interested in the Taiwan POWs’ story.
We then stopped by Stoke-on-Trent to visit some family, before moving on to Manchester where we stayed for several days with Joan Seed. We got to see Alice Myerscough as well while we were there. One day we took the train north to St. Annes and spent a couple of hours with Jack and Doris Catherall. Jack was in the senior officers’ camps, and has been a great source of information on these camps and an invaluable help to me.
Our time in the UK drew to a close all too quickly and we were sad that we did not have enough time to visit more of our FEPOW friends, but that only made us more determined to return again – as soon as possible - for another visit!

REMEMBRANCE WEEK – 2002
Once again this year our Remembrance Week was a great success. We had fourteen overseas guests – including four former FEPOWs - from the UK, Australia and Hong Kong. The number was fewer than previous years, but the group was no less enthusiastic, and everyone said that they had a wonderful time.
The events started with a day trip to Kinkaseki and then to Keelung Harbour - where many of the men who were sent to Kinkaseki, arrived in November 1942. It was also from here where all those POWs who remained on Taiwan at the end of the war, departed on their way home to freedom.
The next day was spent on local sightseeing and visiting the site of the former Taihoku #6 Camp. In the evening the award-winning film “A War Story” about Kinkaseki and Dr. Ben Wheeler – was shown to a group of about 100 people, and afterward the visiting FEPOWs and their families were interviewed by members of the media who were present.
Saturday evening featured the annual POW banquet put on by the Australian Industry and Commerce Office in Taipei and the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society. A display of POW artifacts – British and Japanese uniform items and other items used by the Taiwan POWs, which was put on by Michael Hurst, generated a lot of interest among those who were present. These items will form part of the future POW display at the new museum presently under construction in Chinguashi (Kinkaseki), which is scheduled to open in 2004.

After dinner, the four former POWs gave us a treat by singing “Down the Mine” before each one spoke in turn.
Sunday, November 17 saw more than 80 people gathered at Chinguashi for the annual Remembrance Service. Present on the day were former POWs Harold Brant, Les Davis, Jack Edwards and William Kingate, the family of Arthur Robinson and the daughter of Sir Wilfrid Kent Hughes. Rev. Edmund Ryden conducted a moving service and wreaths were laid to remember the men who suffered so much here so long ago. In the words of Major Ben Wheeler,

“ May we never forget it”

Former Taiwan POWs at Kinkaseki Memorial Service, Sunday November 17, 2002 – from left to right – Les Davis, Jack Edwards, Harold Brant, Bill Kingate.