Kaohsiung War & Peace Park Dedication Event

After several years in planning and construction, the Kaohsiung War and Peace Memorial Park was dedicated on Wednesday May 20th. The park is located by the seashore in Chijin - the spit of land that forms the outer boundary to Kaohsiung Harbour.

     Over the past few years several memorials have been erected to war veterans from several different conflicts on this tract of land set aside by the city to be used as a park to remember the suffering and sacrifice of Taiwanese in war.

     It was the dream of Taiwanese veteran John Hsu (Hsu, Chao-Jung) to see a memorial erected to honour those Taiwanese men and women who were conscripted into the Japanese army in WWII, those who later fought with the Nationalist Army in the Chinese Civil War, and finally some of those captured by the Communists and forced to fight for the North in the Korean War. In addition, our Taiwan Hellships Memorial was located there in 2006 and just recently another memorial to all Taiwan veterans was erected there by the government.

     The area has now been turned into a beautiful park with lovely landscaping complete with walkways, park benches and a small museum to further tell the story of those who were involved in the conflicts of the 20th Century. The Society will also be contributing some materials to the museum to help tell the story of the Taiwan POWs.

More than one hundred people gathered at the park on a beautiful sunny afternoon for the ceremony. There were Taiwanese veterans from all of the conflicts, plus a former nurse who had served with the Japanese army in China in WWII. Kaohsiung Mayor Chen and Deputy Mayor Lee, Cultural Affairs Director Hsih, as well as Maj./Gen. Chang of the ROC Veterans Affairs Commission were in attendance, and Michael Hurst MBE, Director of the Taiwan POW Society was also a special guest.    

The ceremony began with a drama put on by several young men to re-enact the service of the Taiwanese veterans during the last half of the 20th Century, and then tributes were presented by the Taiwan veterans, Michael Hurst and finally Mayor Chen. The former Taiwanese vets then sang an old wartime song. Flower wreaths were laid on the three memorials as piper Mal Turner played Amazing Grace. A local band also played to close out the ceremony.

     The Society is proud to be associated with the city of Kaohsiung in this venture and to have our memorial to the POWs located here. We look forward to more co-operation together in the future as we remember our veterans together.

Hurst speaking at the ceremony	The band playing by the memorials

Return to Heito Camp

On Thursday May 21 following the dedication of the War & Peace Park, I took the opportunity to make a short trip to the nearby Ping Tung area for a visit to the site of the former Heito Camp. It has been several years since I had last visited the site and in that time a number of things had changed.

First of all, the ROC Army had closed the base and the property was left in the care of the Ping Tung County Government, who have pledged to still take care of our memorial. Then over a year ago due to a huge typhoon that damaged their village, a community of Taiwan aboriginal people were moved into the former camp and housed in the buildings. I was concerned about the status of our memorial. The POW Memorial on the site of the former Heito Camp – now in the care of the Pingtung County Government

Upon arriving at the former camp we met and chatted with a number of the very warm and friendly local folk and told them a bit more of the story of the former POWs who had been there many years before them. I was pleased to see that the area and the memorial are being very well kept up.

A Daughter Returns at Last

On Sunday April 5th Aveline Ainslie, the daughter of former POW L/Bdr. William B. Blair of the 155th Field Reg’t.  was able to fulfill a wish that she had for nearly 50 years – to visit the place where her father died as a POW. That day - when their cruise ship docked at Keelung Harbour, we picked up Aveline and her husband Sandy and took them to Kinkaseki for a visit.

Her father was at Kinkaseki from Nov. 1942 until his death on Feb. 6, 1945. Upon her return to the UK she wrote – “I am glad I have seen where the camp was and the mine was. It is so real in my mind and I think of it such a lot. Thank you for guiding me through it.”   We were very pleased to help Aveline  remember her father this way.