"The
Kinkaseki P.O.W. Memorial"
Located on the site of the former P.O.W. camp.
On November 23,
1997 in the village of Chinguashi, located on the northeast
coast of Taiwan, R.O.C., a memorial was dedicated to more
than 1100 British Commonwealth and Allied prisoners of war
who were interned in a Japanese POW camp there called KINKASEKI.
The POW's in this
camp were forced to slave in the dark depths of a nearby copper
mine and were subjected to the most inhuman treatment imaginable.
Conditions in the mine and the camp were as bad, if not worse
in many cases, than that experienced by the POW's on the now-famous
Railway of Death in Burma and Thailand, which was made popular
by the movie "Bridge on the River Kwai".
It seems many
know about the hardship and suffering of the POW's working
on the Death Railway, but few if any know about the "hell-camp"
of Kinkaseki. We hope to tell the story of the suffering and
deprivation endured by the POW's so that all will know - and
hopefully never forget, what these men endured to bring us
the freedom that so many now take for granted, over 50 years
later.
We are also hoping
to locate and make contact with any former Kinkaseki survivors
so that they may learn of the memorial and what has been done
here in their honour. To date we have located approximately
110 of the former POW's, but want to continue to search in
the hope of finding more.
|