Taiwan ’s Last and Only Remaining POW Building . . .

 Several years ago we found the location of the former Toroko POW Camp in a school near the town of Touliou in the south-central part of the island. To our amazement one of the original buildings used by the POWs still remained from the earlier days.

The camp had been occupied by 294 Americans who were part of a group of POWs that had been brought ashore at Takao (Kaohsiung) after a horrifying sea voyage from Manila in the Philippines.
On October 3, 1944 POWs from several Philippine camps were loaded aboard a Hellship called the Hokusen Maru. The POWs had other names for it - such as Benjo (toilet) Maru and Horror Maru, because of the abominable conditions that they were subjected to. In trying to evade American submarines and attacks from allied aircraft, it took 39 days to make the voyage from Manila via Hong Kong to Takao Harbour on Taiwan, arriving there on November 10. During the voyage 39 of the POWs died!
The men were in such terrible condition that it was decided to off-load them for a time into camps on the island in order for them to get well and fit enough to make the journey on to Japan. Some were sent to Heito Camp, a few to Shirakawa and Inrin Temporary Camp and the rest went to Toroko. Here they were housed in two school buildings, reasonably well fed and cared for, and had little work to do. The camp commander treated them decently and most of the POWs later said that it was the best camp they were in and wished they could have stayed there for the rest of the war. Such was not to be, as in January they were sent back to Takao and boarded ships that took them on to Japan - to continue their slavery for the Emperor.
When we re-discovered the camp in September 2000, one of the old Japanese school buildings in which the POWs were billeted, still remained. It was being used as recreation hall for the students and there were ping-pong tables set up inside the large two-room structure. We were thrilled to find this building still intact and usable, and were assured by school staff that this building would be preserved “forever” as it was an important historical site in the village. We visited the site again early this past September - three years after our initial discovery of the camp, and the building was still there as promised.
Well “forever” in Taiwan can be a very short time. In November – just two months later, I had an email from a British teacher who lived in Touliou and had seen our website, asking where the camp was located. When I told him he emailed back that he was going to check it out that weekend. On the following Monday I received another email from him with the news that the old school building had just been torn down, and he sent me some photos of all that was left.
I felt like crying! Here was the last of the original POW camp buildings to remain on the island, a true historical relic in its own right - even as a traditional old Japanese school building, and now it had been torn down, and for what reason, no-one seemed to know or care. What a travesty, especially when we were told only two months earlier that teachers and visitors from Japan had often come to Touliou to see this old “colonial” school, and what a precious piece of heritage it was. I guess it wasn’t THAT precious after all!
So now, there are no more buildings remaining on any of the former POW camps from the time that the POWs were here. There is only the old gatepost at Kinkaseki, a short piece of the wall and some footings, and also a bit of the old parade square at Tamazato Camp to remind us of those bygone days. From a historical point of view it is so sad to see these last vestiges of history disappear for ever, but I guess it is inevitable in our ever-changing world, where so many don’t know what happened back then or choose to just forget because it was so long ago. Fortunately we are preserving the story of the Taiwan POWs in other ways, and through our work, have assured that the memory of these men and what they suffered will not be forgotten - FOREVER!