“BETRAYAL IN HIGH PLACES”
- by James MacKay
(A Book Review)

      For those interested in the story of the POWs of Japan and what happened to the war criminals who committed such atrocities against them and thousands of innocent civilians, this book is a must.
     It clearly chronicles - with documented information stolen at the time from General MacArthur’s headquarters - the cover-ups and deals made between MacArthur and Gen. Willoughby, his second in command, with the Japanese government and the Emperor, to absolve hundreds of known war criminals from ever being brought to trial, and those who were tried, being let off or given lenient sentences.
      It is a story of the lies, deceit and cover-up perpetrated by the US and British governments, the release of known war criminals and the hindrances to justice committed by the US State Dep’t. and the War Crimes Investigation Dep’t.
     This book, carefully complied from official records “removed” from the War Crimes headquarters by James Goodwin, a New Zealand war crimes investigator, and hidden for over fifty years, tells that story. The reader will be shocked to learn that Class A war criminals including some of the Imperial Princes of Japan, and indeed the Emperor himself, were never even accused of the heinous crimes they ordered.
      The doctors who ran the infamous Unit 731 in north China were released - and in fact rewarded, for turning their materials over to US Intelligence sources after the war. Invesigators like Goodwin found that Unit 731 had killed more people than some of the infamous German concentration camps, but nothing was ever released to the world about this.
         There were more than a quarter of a million “comfort women” - all nationals of conquered territories - forced into sexual slavery, many just children, who were subjected to every kind of horror, torture and experimentation as well.
          This book reveals the corruption that existed at the very highest levels of government and the collusion that made a travesty of justice - which still haunts the world today - more than fifty years later as Japan still refuses to acknowledge, apologize or pay compensation to its thousands of victims. Even today this is still being supported by the highest levels of government in Washington and Britain, despite all the information currently being released and lawsuits in the courts today.

Ed. Note 2007 - It has come to our attention that James Goodwin did NOT steal the documents, nor did he even investigate some of the cases McKay attributes to him. Other discrepancies have also been found in the book, although many of the facts and certainly the cover-ups actually occurred. This book should now be read with these new facts in mind.

AMERICAN LEGION AND VFW DONATE TO TAIWAN POW CAMPS SOCIETY

      In June a reception was held at the Post Home in Taipei as members of the Gen. Claire Chennault American Legion Post #49, along with members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Flying Tiger Post #9957, gathered to welcome American Legion National Commander Al Lance on his visit to Taiwan. Another feature of the evening was a report on the work of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society.
        Society Director, Michael Hurst shared the story of how the Society came to be formed and of the continuing work they are doing to find information on the former Japanese POW camps on Taiwan.
       The Society has also undertaken the task of searching for and documenting the sites of the former camps, and is also trying to locate the former POWs to let them know that they and their mates have not and will not be forgotten! So far six of the ten major camps have already been located, and almost 200 former POWs have been contacted.
      In addition to the former British POWs who have been the main focus of the Society’s efforts thus far, there were also a large number of Americans held on Taiwan, particularly in the camps at Heito and Shirakawa. The Society has been searching for these Americans and has recently made some good contacts. The members are hoping to be able to erect a POW Memorial on the site of the former Heito Camp, which they discovered last September, and efforts are planned for later this year to try to locate the site of the former Shirakawa Camp.
       The Taipei Posts of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars made a most generous donation of NT$66,000.00 towards the work of the Society from proceeds raised at their annual dinner/dance which was held last November, and also from a special gift by a Legion member who wished to remain anonymous.
       The Society is very grateful for the support of these two very prominent veterans organizations, and counts it a real honour to have been chosen to receive the gift in recognition of its efforts to remember the men of all Allied nations who suffered so much here on Taiwan during World War II. The money donated will be used for further research and also to help with the construction of one and possibly two more POW memorials on the island of Taiwan.