2005 has also been another wonderful year for the Society and the Taiwan POWs as well. Through all the events that have taken place and the ceremonies that we have held, we have tried our best to remember the POWs and what took place in the Taiwan camps those many years ago.

The first event was the memorial service held on January 9th, at Kaohsiung Harbour to remember the more than 300 POWs who died when the hellship Enoura Maru was bombed by American carrier-based fighters. Then we held a ceremony to commemorate of the execution of the fourteen American flyers at the old wall of the Taipei Prison on June 19th with three family members of one of the airmen present.

On August 15th we participated with the ROC Armed Forces Military History and Translation Dept. in the opening of the newly renovated Armed Forces Museum in downtown Taipei, by providing a special exhibition on the “Japanese POW Camps in Taiwan in World War II” which will run to the end of this year. We also took the opportunity to unveil our 60th anniversary commemorative stamp sheet which was very well accepted and is now completely sold out.

On Sunday September 4th a service was held on the docks at Keelung Harbour to commemorate the evacuation of the Taiwan POWs by the US and British navies. Several former Royal Navy crewmembers of the ships which took part in the evacuation returned to Taiwan to take part with us, and we had participation from the R.O.C. Navy and the R.O.C. Veterans Affairs Commission as well.

Throughout September and October we had the privilege of working with the Taipei County Gov’t. in the planning and re-design of the park that surrounds the memorial at Chinguashi (Kinkaseki). We want to thank the county gov’t. and the Idea Design Co. and its president Mr. Yang Kuo Hao for allowing us to be involved in this wonderful project and for their fine work in making this a true place of remembrance. The park will now be known as “Prisoner of War Memorial Park” and will honour all those who were POWs in all of the fifteen camps on the island during World War II.

November featured our annual “Remembrance Week” event with fifteen overseas guests in attendance. This year a special honour was bestowed on the Society and our guests with a reception at the Presidential Office given by Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian. The work of the POW Society was recognized as well as the suffering and courage of the three POWs and their family members who were present.

Along with the usual POW Banquet and Remembrance Service, a special 60th anniversary POW camps tour was organized by the Society. In addition to Kinkaseki, the camps at Kukutsu, Taihoku # 6, Taichu, Shirakawa and Heito were visited and special memorial services were held at each one.

It has truly been a great year for bringing the story of the Taiwan POWs to the forefront and to making sure that the POWs and what they suffered here is not forgotten. I want to thank all those who have helped us in our work, and those who have supported us and participated in the events.