On March 3rd 2005, after several months of preparation and study, I boarded a plane in Taipei for the two-hour flight that would take me to Fukuoka Japan and a step back through the pages of time to World War II.
I was going to the southern Japanese island of Kyushu to visit some of the Japanese POW camps where former Taiwan prisoners of war were held after leaving Taiwan in early 1945.
Many of the POWs who had gone from Taiwan to Japan had recounted their experiences to me, and for several years I have wanted to visit the camps there to see where they had been imprisoned so as to finish that part of their story. The idea to visit the camps in the spring of 2005 came after talking with Keiko Holmes who was planning to take a group of British POWs and their families there at that time.
As it turned out Keiko’s group did not have the time in their schedule to visit those camps that I wanted to see, so with the help of Wes Injerd – a fellow POW researcher from the USA who used to live in Fukuoka for many years, I began to plan a private visit.
Wes put me in touch with Mr. Koshi Kobayashi – a member of the Japan POW Research Network and a great friend to all the POWs. He is a real authority on the camps, particularly in the areas of Hiroshima and Kyushu and was a tremendous help in arranging things for my visit.
Koshi contacted a friend and fellow Research Group member Prof. Bert McBean from Oita University who agreed to help show me around the various camps I wished to see. He enlisted the help of Mr. Takamitsu Hirano, also a group member, to act as interpreter and together we finalized the schedule for the visit.
Coincidently, at that time Mrs. Sandra Humphrey, the daughter of former Taiwan POW and our Society rep in Australia, Sid Dodds, was signed up to go on Keiko’s tour. When she and her dad found out that I was going to be visiting the camp at Miyata where he was, we discussed the possibility of her joining the group I was in too. She was warmly welcomed and met me in Fukuoka the next day after flying up from Australia.
On Saturday March 5th we set out with Bert and Mr. Hirano for the site of the former Omine 5B POW camp at Soeda in the interior of the island. We had to cross over the mountains and on the way we were treated to a lovely soft snowfall as we wound our way through the mountain roads. For Sandra and I
- who rarely see snow in Australia or Taiwan, it was a unique experience.
(l-r) Bert McBean, Mr. Shiba, Mr. Hirano & Michael Hurst studying the history of the Omine 5B POW Camp.
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Arriving at Soeda we met our host, Mr. Takeo Shiba who took us to his home and showed us a lot of information and old photos of the former coal mining area. Later we drove to the area of the former POW camp, the cemetery and the old mine works.
Our first stop was the place where the old POW cemetery had been located. There is still a Japanese cemetery nearby, but the bodies of the 21 POWs who died at Omine Camp now rest in the Yokohama War Cemetery. We explored the area and left a poppy cross on a tree at the edge of the hillside in remembrance of the men who died in the camp.
From there we visited the site of the former POW camp. The area had been occupied by a small factory after the war, but is now abandoned except for several old dilapidated buildings. We walked around the site and imagined what things must have been like for the POWs in those days.
Entrance and view of the former Omine 5B POW Camp
From the camp it was just a short ride down the road to the site of the former mine works. There is almost nothing left of the workings now. The tunnel was sealed off years ago, and the buildings have all disappeared – even the huge coal slag heaps have been removed over the years. It was good to see the area though and to trace the steps of the men from the camp to the mine and see the area where they worked each day.
Thanking our host we left Soeda and re-traced our steps back through the hills to the city of Izuka where we had a very tasty Japanese evening meal and spent a restful night.
Meeting with Miyata Mining Museum staff and former workers
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