Following the dedication of the flame sculpture, we gathered for the Remembrance Day service at 11:00 am. Rev. Ryden offered an opening prayer and this was followed by a message from Harry Genn, Acting Director of the Australian Commerce and Industry Office - our co-sponsor of this year’s event, on behalf of the Commonwealth and Allied representatives.

Isabel Winstanley remembers her father and the other POWs

Isabel Winstanley spoke on behalf of her father and the other POWs, and told those present what coming to Taiwan meant to her. Then Jim Ferguson read the poem “We Will Remember Them” and also spoke about his father. Rev. Ryden then shared a message on the need for remembrance and for peace in the world today.
Because there were no former POWs returning this year, the wreath-laying ceremony was led by WWII veteran Art Scholl, US Navy (ret.), who was a crewmember aboard the aircraft carrier USS Sangamon which took part in the battle for Okinawa. This aircraft carrier was a sister ship to the two carriers which helped with the evacuation of the POWs from Taiwan in September 1945. Piper Mal Turner accompanied the wreath-laying with Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.

WWII US Navy veteran Art Scholl lays wreath for the POWs

Other wreaths were laid by the Taiwan WWII Veterans, The Commonwealth and Allied Representatives, the ROC Veterans Affairs Commission, the family members of the POWs and the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society. Following the wreath-laying, taps and reveille were played by TAS student Wesley Lien, a moment’s silence was observed and the ceremony ended with all present reading the “Ode of Remembrance”.

Following the ceremonies a fellowship lunch was held in the nearby community center. It was a wonderful day even though there were no former POWs present with us. We hope that will change next year.
On Monday the Fergusons left for home and the rest of the group travelled south to visit the other camps where Isabel’s father had been held as a prisoner. Our first stop was Chiayi or Kagi, as it was known in earlier times. From there we went to Bai He to the site of the former Shirakawa POW Camp where Isabel’s dad was taken in the spring of 1945 in the last sick-man party to leave Kinkaseki Camp. Being an active ROC military base we could not go inside but we had a good look at the former camp area from the grounds of a nearby school. A short memorial service was held by the original entrance to the camp before returning to Chiayi.
From Chiayi we took the train to Kaohsiung and paid a visit to the Taiwan Hellships Memorial at Chijin Beach. All of the POWs who arrived and departed from Taiwan, came by hellship, so it is fitting that there should be a special memorial here to remember those who suffered and died on them. Later we went to PingTung where we spent the night before going to the site of the former Heito Camp on Tuesday morning.

At the Taiwan Hellships Memorial

We were met at the camp by a contingent from the ROC armed forces who joined us in a walk-about tour of the old camp and also paid their respects with us at the memorial service we held later.

Remembering the POWs of Heito Camp

Even though there were no former POWs in attendance this year, our Remembrance Week was still a wonderful event. It will likely be this way permanently in a few years and it is our hope that the children and families of the FEPOWs will continue to come and share with us the experience of seeing the camps and places where their loved ones were so many years ago as Isabel and Jim and Brian did this year. No matter what, we will never forget the Taiwan POWs or their sacrifice for us.