Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society Director Awarded the M.B.E.

Michael receiving the MBE from His Royal Highness,
Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales,
at Buckingham Palace - October 10, 2002

(CP-Taiwan)
Michael Hurst, the Founder and Director of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society, traveled to London England in October 2002 to receive a very special award - the Member of the Order of the British Empire. His long and tireless efforts to remember the former allied prisoners of war in Taiwan have been recognized. Michael was the original founder and first Chairman of the Kinkaseki Memorial Committee in 1997, and later the founded the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society, to carry on the work begun by the original committee when it closed down in the spring of 1999.

Michael and his wife Tina traveled to the UK in early October, and on October 10 he was presented with the award by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. The ceremony took place in the palace’s Grand Ballroom. In addition to Tina, Michael had two other guests with him for the occasion – one was a former Taiwan prisoner of war, and the other was the widow of one of the doctors who was interned in the camp at Kinkaseki. It was a memorable ceremony and Prince Charles talked with Michael about his work and the Taiwan POWs as he presented the medal to him.

In conjunction with the awarding of the MBE to Michael, a POW reunion was held in London on October 9 - 11th and some of the former Taiwan POWs and their families gathered to honour Michael and Tina.
Following their stay in the capital, Michael and Tina spent the remaining portion of their time in the UK visiting with former POWs and their families before returning to Taiwan.

We asked Michael to tell us a little about his work -

Q. We are interested in knowing what motivated you to start working on the story of the POWs in Taiwan?

A. “I have always had a great respect for the war veterans as several of my uncles and family members served in both the First and Second World Wars. As a boy, I attended Remembrance Day services with my father each year in November to honour the men, and later I took my own children. I felt indebted to the veterans for what they had suffered, and always wanted to do something tangible to repay that debt, but I was never able to find an opportunity to do so.

Then, early in 1997, on learning about the infamous Kinkaseki Prisoner of War Camp at Chinguashi near Taipei, I decided that at last there was something that I could do help remember a group of men who had suffered so much for our freedom. I organized a memorial service for the men of Kinkaseki, and out of that came the Kinkaseki / Taiwan POW Memorial, which was built on the site of the former POW camp at Chinguashi, and dedicated on November 23, 1997.

Following the dedication of the memorial, the original Kinkaseki Memorial Committee closed down, and so I founded the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society, to carry on the work. The principal aim was to find all of the Japanese POW camps on the island, and also as many of the former POW camp survivors as possible. I want to tell their story, and also to let them know that they and their mates and what they suffered - has not, and will not, ever be forgotten.

During the past six years, I have come in contact with more than 200 former Taiwan POWs and their families, and our Society has erected memorials on the sites of two more of the camps. We hope to add another one in 2003.”

Michael Hurst Director
Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society

Q. What is the most rewarding aspect of your work?

A. “Finding the POW survivors and their families is the real fruit of our work, and as long as they are happy, that is what brings me joy in all this - that is my real reward. To see the happiness and the joy on their faces when they know that at last they are not forgotten is the greatest reward one could ask.

It has also been very exciting and rewarding to work with such a wonderful group of committee members over the years, in our search for the former camps and in the work of erecting the memorials in honour of the POWs. All that we have done could not have been accomplished without their support and teamwork.”

Q. What lies ahead for you in the future?

A. “I plan to begin work on a book that will tell the story of all fifteen of the former Japanese POW camps on Taiwan and the men who were interned in them. I want to use the POWs’ own words to describe their life and the conditions in the various camps. I also plan to use a lot of hitherto unpublished photos, documents and other artifacts to better illustrate the story of what these men went through as POWs. I hope it will serve as a good source of information on this little-known aspect of the history of the war in the Pacific, but most importantly I want to make sure that these wonderful men are never forgotten!”

To sum up the award in Michael’s own words –
“This was really a great surprise and an honour for me, but the most important thing is that it further helps to make the story of the Taiwan POWs better known.”