Cutting the ribbon at the dedication of the new
“Prisoner of War Memorial Park” at Chinguashi.

The 60th Anniversary Remembrance Service featured tributes to the former POWs by Michael Boyden, one of the former Kinkaseki Committee Chairmen, Bill Funk on behalf of the United States Marine Corps, and Michael Hurst MBE, Director of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society.

Following the addresses and reading of poems by the POWs and Stuart Saunders of the POW Society, wreaths were laid to remember those who made the supreme sacrifice for their country and also those who returned home, scarred and marked for life because of their ordeals here in Taiwan’s prisoner of war camps.

Once again Canadian piper Mal Turner played the marches and accompanied the laying of the wreaths on the bagpipes, and Roy Guillen played Taps and Reveille. Major Henry Silcock of the Salvation Army – the son-in-law of a former Taiwan POW, gave the message and led the Prayer of Remembrance at this year’s service.

Former POWs Adam Houston, Ernie Agass and
George Reynolds remember former times and mates.

The week of remembrance continued on Monday and Tuesday with a special 60th anniversary tour to the central and southern parts of the island to visit more of the camps in which the men were imprisoned. The first stop on the tour was the Taichu Camp south of Taichung. The group visited the memorial erected in 2000 by the POW Society and held a memorial service by the stone.

After lunch the group moved on to Bai He to visit the site of the former Shirakawa Camp. After a brief walk around the area which is currently an active R.O.C. military base, a short memorial service was held outside the gate which marks the former entrance to the camp.

Memorial service by the former
entrance to Shirakawa Camp

The group continued on to PingTung and after an overnight stay there, made their way to the site of the former Heito POW Camp east of the city. The site is also an army base and the group was warmly welcomed by the commander and the local government officials. With an R.O.C. military honour guard standing by the memorial, a very moving ceremony of remembrance was held. The Deputy Mayor of PingTung County, Dr. Michael Guu, gave a special address to those present. Mrs. Ann Silcock, whose father was a POW at Heito, read a moving poem entitled “POW Tribute” in honour of the men in this camp.

Ann Silcock - whose father was a POW at Heito Camp,
pauses to remember at the memorial following the service

This year’s event was the largest ever, showing the increased interest in the story of the Taiwan POWs and the camps where they were interned – not only by the foreign community here, but also by the local Taiwanese. We are also very grateful for the interest and support being shown for our work by the government of Taiwan at various levels, and most of all by the people of Taiwan. We want to make sure that the story of the Taiwan POWs will endure and live on forever, and that they will “Never be Forgotten”!