60th Anniversary Event Reports

2005 was the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II, and the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society held several events to help commemorate the Taiwan POWs and their suffering and sacrifice for our freedom. Here are some of the events we held - more detailed information about these events can be had by clicking on the links provided under each one.

 

Commemoration of the Bombing of the Hellship “Enoura Maru”– at Kaohsiung Harbour.

January 9, 1945 – was the date of the bombing of the hellship Enoura Maru at Takao Harbour, Formosa, with the loss of more than 300 American POW lives. On January 9th 2005 – the 60th Anniversary of that tragic event, the Society held a special memorial service to remember the Enoura Maru and the men who suffered and died that day. The ceremony was held in conjunction with the City of Kaohsiung Cultural Affairs Bureau at a pier at Kaohsiung Harbour. Following the service on the pier, wreaths were laid on the water over the place where the ship was anchored at the time it was bombed. Many friends and supporters joined with us to remember the men and the events of that day.

For a look at what took place on the day please click on the following links.

- Enoura Maru Memorial Service - January 9, 2005
- The Story of the Enoura Maru and the Men Who Died
- Remarks by AIT Kaohsiung Branch Chief Robert Forden

Newspaper Articles

- WWII POW pays tribute to downed comrades
- Enoura Maru victims at Kaohsiung remembered

Memorial Service at the remains of the old north wall of the former Taipei prison for the 14 American airmen executed by the Japanese at the Taipei Prison 60 years ago -

June 19, 1945 – was the date of the senseless execution of 14 American airmen at the Taipei Prison Formosa. On June 19th 2005 – the 60th Anniversary of that tragic event, the Society held a special memorial service to remember the men who suffered and died that day. The ceremony was held just outside the remnant of the old north wall of the former prison with the brother of one of the executed airmen present with us for the occasion. Several friends and supporters joined with us as well to remember the men and the events of that day.
For a look at what took place on the day, please click on the following links –

- Story of the Executed Airmen
- A World War II Remembrance in Taipei - by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.
- Speech by Laurence Mitchell III, Chief, Liaison Affairs Section, A.I.T.
- Taiwan News Article

Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society Commemorates the End of World War II and the evacuation of the POWs.

World War II officially ended on September 2nd 1945 with the signing of the surrender of all Japanese forces in Tokyo Bay. On September 5th, 1945 Allied ships began evacuating the 1500 POWs that had survived the war in Taiwan. It took four days for the US and British Royal Navy to evacuate all of the prisoners and send them on their way to Manila for medical treatment and care before they returned to their homes again.

On Sunday September 4, 2005 a ceremony was held at Keelung Harbor, Wharf No.2, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the war and the evacuation of the Allied Prisoners of War from Taiwan. The ceremony was organized by the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society.

For a look at what took place on the day, please click on the following link –
http://www.powtaiwan.org/newsletters/2005%20Fall%20Winter/page_6.htm

 

Dedication of the Taiwan Prisoner of War Memorial Park

In the fall of 2005 the Taipei County Government decided to renovate and re-furbish the park surrounding the POW memorial on the site of the former Kinkaseki POW Camp at Jinguashi on Taiwan’s northeast coast. The architectural firm which was awarded the contract to carry out the work decided to try to make the park into a place of reverence and memory for the Taiwan POWs. The Society was asked for input to help plan the new park and gladly offered assistance where we could. The park - although not completely finished at the time, was dedicated on Sunday November 20th 2005, during the annual Remembrance Week event hosted by the POW Society. The park was finally completed at the end of December 2005, with the Eternal flame of Peace and Remembrance added the following year. The following photos show the park as it is today.

For a look at photos of the Taiwan POW Memorial Park, please click on the following link –
http://www.powtaiwan.org/memorialpark/memorialpark.html

The Taiwan Hellships Memorial Dedication

Following the memorial service held in January 2005 by the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society to commemorate the bombing of the hellship Enoura Maru in Kaohsiung Harbour, it was suggested that a memorial be built in Taiwan to remember the men who were transported on the hellships that came to the Taiwan ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung, and those who suffered and died on them.

Following the wonderful and very successful Hellships Memorial Tour in the Philippines, Society director Michael Hurst returned to Taiwan with five guests from the Philippine tour to take part in a special two-day program jointly organized by the POW Society and the City of Kaohsiung Cultural Affairs Bureau, and especially to dedicate the Taiwan Hellships Memorial.
For a look at what took place on the day, please click on the following link –
http://www.powtaiwan.org/newsletters/2006%20Spring%20Summer/page_8.htm

First ever FEPOW Day in Taiwan

FEPOW (Far East Prisoner of War) Day was first conceived in 2007 in the UK and is a concerted drive to have August 15th designated as a day to especially remember all those – military and civilians, who suffered imprisonment by the Japanese during World War II. The movement is spreading worldwide and for the first time ever in 2008 the event was celebrated in Taiwan.

For a look at what took place on the day, please click on the following link –
http://www.powtaiwan.org/newsletters/2008%20Fall%20Winter/page_3.htm

TOROKU POW CAMP MEMORIAL DEDICATED

After five years in the works, a memorial to honour the American and British POWs who were held in the Toroku POW Camp from November 1944 to April 1945 was dedicated on Saturday June 6. The memorial is located inside the grounds of Gou-Ba Elementary School in the village of Gou-Ba - a suburb of Douliou City in South-Central Taiwan.

Until 2003, two of the former old Japanese school buildings which the POWs inhabited still stood on the grounds – they were the last remaining POW buildings in Taiwan.

With the completion of this memorial, we now have six memorials that have been erected on the island to the former Taiwan POWs, with another one to come on June 20th and hopefully two more to follow in the coming months.
For more details about the Toroku Camp, the memorial and the dedication ceremony, please see the Spring –Summer 2009 edition of the “Never Forgotten” newsletter.

Memorial to the prisoners of war who were interned in Toroku POW Camp from November 1944 – April 1945

 

DEDICATION OF THE AMERICAN AIRMEN’S MEMORIAL

Using your mouse click on the images to display a large photograph and description.

On Saturday June 20th a memorial service was held at the site of the former Taipei Prison to honor and remember the American airmen who were captured by the Japanese when their aircraft crashed or were shot down over Taiwan in the fall of 1944 and the spring of 1945. These men were not considered to be POWs but rather “war criminals” and as such were held in the old Taihoku (Taipei) Prison, often in solitary confinement. They were starved and beaten and suffered great hardships. On May 29th 1945, 14 of these airmen were given a mock trial with no defense and were sentenced to death by firing squad. The sentence was carried out on June 19th 1945 – less than two months before the Japanese surrender! The remaining airmen were released in September 1945 and returned to their homeland again.

On June 19th 2005, a memorial service was held by the wall to commemorate the death of the US Army Air Corps and US Navy airmen who were murdered 60 years ago on that date. It was decided then that some kind of plaque should be placed on the wall of the old prison to remember the sacrifice of those men for our freedom. The Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society is pleased to have worked with the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Taipei City Government, and with the support of the ROC Veterans Affairs Commission and the American Institute in Taiwan, we are proud to have brought this project to its completion.

This memorial will stand as a remembrance of the courage and strength and sacrifice of those American airmen many years ago. They were needlessly taken from us when they were so young. They are gone– but they will never be forgotten!