Taiwan POWs Remembered with the Dedication of Memorial Tree at the National Memorial Arboretum. . .

  Thursday April 17, 2003 was a clear bright day as former Taiwan POWs and friends gathered at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, Staffordshire for the dedication of the Taiwan POW Memorial Tree. The Taiwan POWs were represented in person by Stan Vickerstaff and Eric Carter and his wife Joan. Katherine Heard and Pat (Heard) Riley and her husband John represented former POW Gerry Heard who died in 1968. There were other friends present as well including Ms. Jackie Fisher, the acting Director of the National Arboretum, and Michael Hurst, Director of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society in Taiwan.

The event was organized by former Taiwan POW Stan Vickerstaff and Katherine and Pat Heard. Pat and her mother visited Taiwan in 2000, and since that time she has been a tremendous inspiration and help in the work of the Society in the UK. She and Stan worked with the National Arboretum in the autumn of 2002 to see that the POW tree was planted and that everything was ready for the dedication ceremony. She contacted the local press in Derbyshire and a nice write-up appeared in the newspaper on the day of the event.

The ceremony featured a short address by Michael Hurst MBE, Director of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society. He mentioned the significance of the POWs’ tree - a Red Maple, and how that maple trees grow in every country that had POWs on Taiwan, including Taiwan itself, and that a “red” maple was chosen to remember the suffering and the blood that was shed for our freedom by those men.

The address was followed by the reading of a poem penned by former POW Maurice Rooney, greetings from the director of the National Arboretum, Jackie Fisher, and remarks by POWs Stan Vickerstaff and Eric Carter. A short prayer of dedication followed and the ceremony closed with the laying of poppy crosses at the foot of the tree. A wonderful time of fellowship followed the ceremony as everyone met together for a lovely dinner hosted by Pat, John and Katherine.

Now at last, the Taiwan POWs have a memorial right alongside the memorials to the men who slaved on the Thai-Burma Railway, the Sumatra Railway, and the Children and Families of Far East POWs (COFEPOW).

The Taiwan POW Memorial Tree is located at the front alongside the memorial stone to the Thai-Burma Railway POWs, with a plaque containing the following inscription placed in front of it –

"In Memory of the Taiwan Prisoners of War - those who died and those who returned"

It is hoped in the future to be able to have a small memorial stone carved from Taiwan marble – similar to the various Taiwan POW memorial stones that have been erected on the sites of some of the camps in Taiwan, placed at the base of the tree, as a permanent memorial to these wonderful men.

Above: Friends gathered at the Dedication Ceremony Below: (l to r) Katherine Heard, Stan Vickerstaff, Pat Riley, Jackie Fisher – National Arboretum Director, and Eric Carter

The Taiwan POW Memorial Tree