Kukutsu Camp

In May and June 1945 approximately 300 allied prisoners of war were moved from the POW camp at Kinkaseki to the hills south of Hsintien and a camp was set up at Kukutsu.

There were no buildings for the POWs to stay in so they had to build huts made from trees, bamboo and grass. There was little food so they were put to work on the nearby mountainside, planting sweet potatoes and peanuts on an old tea plantation. They first had to hack out and dig up the old tea bushes before planting the crops which they never did get to eat.

The Japanese treated the men very badly and forced them to work hard with many beatings and little food or medicine for the sick men. Two men died and were buried in the camp before the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan which brought the war to an end on August 15, 1945.
After the Japanese surrendered, the men were sent back to Taipei and from there they were rescued by American and British ships and returned home again.

In 1999 the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society erected a memorial stone to the former prisoners of war and three of the men who were former POWs in the camp returned to Taiwan for the dedication.

The Kukutsu Camp was occupied from May 16 to August 24, 1945.