KINKASEKI MEMORIAL NEWSLETTER

WE'VE MADE THIS SPECIAL JOURNEY TO STAND UPON THE SOIL WHERE ONCE WE WERE, SO DISTANT NOW, AND MADE TO SWEAT AND TOIL. THE CAMP WE KNEW HAS VANISHED, AND WE'RE THRILLED TO SEE IN ITS PLACE THIS BEAUTIFUL PARK AND MEMORIAL, MAJESTIC IN ALL ITS GRACE. WE'RE HERE THIS DAY TO HONOUR THOSE OF OUR COMRADES NO LONGER MET, THEIR MEMORY IS OURS TO CHERISH - AND NONE OF US SHOULD FORGET!"

The words of this poem, specially penned for the occasion by ex-POW Maurice Rooney, reflected the feelings of all five former Prisoners of War who returned to Taiwan for the first annual service of remembrance, held at the site of the Kinkaseki POW Memorial on Sunday November 15, 1998.

Three of the five former POWs - Maurice Rooney, Ben Slack and Stan Vickerstaff, came from England; another, Sid Dodds, came from Australia, and as usual, Jack Edwards flew over from Hong Kong to join with us for this very special time.

Sunday, November 15 was a beautiful warm, sunny day and our activities started off with a Remembrance Day service at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Shilin. Following this a large convoy of vehicles made their way to Chinguashi for the Kinkaseki Remembrance Service.

Piper Robert Noakes led the procession down to the park where the service was held adjacent to the memorial. Following the opening remarks by Kinkaseki Committee Chairman Jeff Cox, and an address from the Commonwealth and Allied representatives by Mr. Sam Gerovich of the Australian Industry and Commerce Office in Taipei, each of the ex-POWs was featured at the ceremony. Sid Dodds gave an emotional reading of the poem "Gloomy Taiwan" as he remembered his mates and their time at Kinkaseki.

Stan Vickerstaff read the poem "Remembering", followed by Jack Edwards and Maurice Rooney telling of their remembrances of Kinkaseki. Ben Slack then read the poem "We Will Remember Them", and Rev. Graham Doyle offered a prayer for remembrance and peace.

After the very moving main service, poppy wreaths were laid by the POWs, the War Veterans, the Commonwealth and Allied representatives, and the Kinkaseki Memorial Committee. A minute's silence was observed and the ceremony concluded with the playing of "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes.

As Chairman Jeff Cox so aptly put it, "I don't think there was a Remembrance Day ceremony anywhere in the world this year that could have been more meaningful than this one."

"Ex-POW's (L-R) Jack Edwards, Stan Vickerstaff, Sid Dodds, Ben Slack and Maurice Rooney
in front of the Kinkaseki Memorial"

We want to specially thank Cathay Pacific Airways; Stanley Yen, Cathy McBeath and the staff of the Grand Hotel; The Canadian Trade Office in Taipei; Anny Tsao - ANZ Bank; Lee Ting; Reverend Graham Doyle and Piper Robert Noakes for their generosity and kind assistance in making our remembrance weekend possible.

The men were thrilled to see the memorial and the information plaques erected in honour of all the former POWs of Kinkaseki, and all expressed their gratitude - and that of many ex-POWs and their families back in England, to the members of the Taiwan expat community - and the local people as well, for what has been done here. We can only say that they are very welcome and so deserving of any honour we could bestow on them.