POW CAMP SEARCHES . . .
OKA CAMP (con’t.)
       Much discussion was held and phone calls to local residents were made to try to obtain as much information as possible. With this information they poured over maps of the area and formulated ideas as to where the camp may have been located, based on their knowledge of the local terrain.
        They took a trip to the top of one of the nearby mountains by car, and examined a potential site from there. It is possible that some of the POWs may have gone up to that area to gather the abundant elephant grass to make the attap huts, but at this time it is just speculation.
        Further study is ongoing at the moment and efforts are being made to find more local people who knew about the POWs or who can lead us to further sources of information. They have a pretty good idea as to where the location “might be”, and that is a good 2 1/2 hour climb up into the mountains behind the village where the old school and temple were located. The saga continues!

SHIRAKAWA CAMP # 4 -
        One of the last major Taiwan camps that we needed to find lies in the vicinity of the city of Chiayi in the south-central part of Taiwan. This was the camp where many of the senior officers stayed for a time, and was also considered to be a rest camp for those too weak or sick to work in the mines at Kinkaseki. In March 1945, Dr. Wheeler took the last sick party from Kinkaseki to Shirakawa, and this move is credited by many of the current survivors as the only thing that saved their lives.
        After many months of research, pouring over POW diaries and gathering information from interviews with surviving POWs from the camp, we felt we were ready to make a stab at pinning down its location.
        On the weekend of September 15 - 17, when we took the Taichu POW Memorial stone down to the camp (see story on page 6), we planned to explore the area where we believed the Shirakawa Camp was located to see if we could find the site.
       On Saturday the 16th, committee members Stuart Saunders, Dominic McAllister, and Michael and Tina Hurst, began the search. After driving for some time around the area, they talked with workers at the county government office and a local historian who was finally able to direct them to the site of the former camp. It is now occupied by an active ROC Army Base.

       Their hopes were dim as they approached the base to see if it would be possible to go inside and have a look around. However, once the right officer was found and they explained their mission, they were welcomed inside. After having some lunch they were escorted around the base to the area where the former camp was located.
        Of course there were no buildings left from that former time, but one spot appeared to have been left untouched even after all these years. The POWs had mentioned that at the back of the camp was a hill that they called “Yasume Park” (“Yasume” means “rest” in Japanese). They would often go there for walks, and church services were held there every Sunday.
          From a drawing of the camp that Michael had been given by one of the POWs, the layout of the former camp was easily recognized. The large grassy knoll and the spindly trees atop it seemed to come to life right out of the drawing. They also saw the place where the former camp hospital had been, along with the isolation huts for diptheria and TB. They took a lot of photos of the area and then left the base thanking the officer and making arrangements to come again.

       On leaving the base they encountered an elderly local farmer who remembered the camp and the prisoners well. He gave them the name of a former camp guard who lived in the area and the instructions on how to find him.
       The team wasted no time in tracking this man down, and he was very kind and helpful in telling them his experiences and his feelings from that time. After having some tea together in his home, he offered to show them more of the area around the camp, including the cemetery where the POWs had been buried before their removal to Hong Kong after the war. (con't on page 5)