The Return to Taiwan POW Camp #3 - HEITO

Soldiers’ barracks where the POW huts once stood

Wednesday, November 3, 1999 - the phone rang and it was Miss Lee calling from PingTung. I was momentarily shocked when I heard what she had to say to me.

She was calling for her boss Miss Huang (our historical contact in the PingTung area), to tell me that permission had been granted by the Taiwan military for a visit inside their army base which was the former site of the Heito POW Camp! The time for the visit had been allocated as the next Monday - November 8, and could I make it there by 9:00am to join them for a tour of the base and campsite area? An added bonus was that Mr. Lin, the former camp guard - who we had met on our first trip, would accompany us on the visit.

I nearly jumped for joy at the news. Now we had a chance to check out the site of the old Heito Camp firsthand to really see if anything remained from that earlier time, and we would have Mr. Lin - who was there in wartime, to point things out for us.

Time was very short, and as we were already very busy preparing for the upcoming visit of the POWs for our annual Remembrance Weekend, there was not a minute to lose. Arrangements were hastily made for transportation to PingTung and our accommodation.

On Sunday the 7th we took the train to the south of Taiwan as we wanted to be there in plenty of time so as not to miss out on a minute of this great adventure.

Early Monday morning, Miss Huang picked us up and we drove to the army base. There, we were joined by reporters from the Liberty Times and China News as well as a television news-team from Formosa TV. We were also met by Mr. Lin and his son-in-law who was a former local official and the wife of a member of the National Legislature for the PingTung area. In addition, to our great surprise, were two other former camp guards, Mr. Huang and Mr. Yang.

Since our visit in September, Miss Huang and her staff had been busy, trying to locate some of the other former guards who had been friends of Mr. Lin’s and had found these other two still residing in the southern part of Taiwan. Like Mr. Lin, they had been conscripted as youths to serve as perimeter guards at the camp.

On entering the camp we were welcomed by a special officer that had been sent for the occasion by army headquarters - Capt. Yang. He was a most gracious host and listened intently as we told the story of the former POW camp and of the POWs who were interned here.

As we walked around the camp area the three former guards took turns telling us of their experiences and of their observations and interactions with the POWs. They pointed out where the various buildings in the camp had been located - the Japanese offices, living quarters and guardhouses, as well as the prisoners’ huts, kitchen, latrines and parade area. Mr. Lin pointed out the location of the crude camp “hospital” and a hut that was allocated as a chapel - he called it - where the bodies of the POWs who died were kept before burial.

The present military base has been enlarged on the one side to allow more room for manoeuvres, but otherwise the camp retains its approximate shape and size from the early days. As we were told on our earlier visit, there is nothing left in the camp from that former time, but now we have seen it first hand and have a good description of the layout from which to make accurate drawings of the site.

We came away very satisfied and thankful for all the effort that was put forth on our behalf by Miss Huang and Miss Lee, the former guards and our friends and supporters in the PingTung area. Thanks for a job well done.

Former Camp guards discuss the camp layout