In Memoriam

The following former Taiwan POWs and friends have passed away since our last newsletter. We extend our sincerest sympathy to the families of these men and assure them that although they are no longer with us, they will - Never Be Forgotten!

“We Will Remember Them”

DUANE HEISINGER

On May 1st our dear friend Duane Heisinger passed away peacefully, with his family members around him. His daughter Jennifer wrote to tell us, “He lived to the end with honor, courage, humor and goodwill. He was aware of and appreciated the many friends who remembered him with notes, gifts, and prayers.” It was Duane who had the vision several years ago to create a memorial for all those POWs and others who suffered and died on the Japanese hellships during WWII. This January that dream came true with the unveiling of the WWII Hellships Memorial in the Philippines (see pgs. 6 – 8).
Duane’s father died aboard the hellship Enoura Maru when it was bombed in Kaohsiung Harbour, and he and his wife were among the guests who came to Taiwan in January for the dedication of the Taiwan Hellships Memorial. He will be missed, but he will not be forgotten!

POW HONOUR ROLL

The POW Honour Roll on our website now contains over 4200 names of the former 4344 Taiwan POWs. It is searchable, thus making it easier to find names and details of the former POWs. Click on the section entitled “THE MEN” to view the Honour Roll.

RARE WORLD WAR II UNIT BADGES OBTAINED . . .

For the past almost six years I have been searching for the badges of the 9th and 11th Indian Divisions that took part in the Battle of Malaya, and the 18th British Division that was sent to re-enforce Singapore in the last days before it fell to the Japanese.

About two years ago one of our loyal supporters in the UK, Paul Morrell, supplied me with a set of 18th British Division patches that he purchased at a flea market. After further years of searching I was beginning to think that there were no badges from the 9th and 11th Indian Divisions still extant, when Paul emailed me in late December last year to let me know that there were complete sets of the 9th and 11th Indian Division - and also a set of the British 18th Division patches up for auction on Ebay.

I wasted no time in checking them out and on January 4th of this year I stayed up til 4 am and won all three auctions. It appears that the Ebay badge buyers did not know the historical significance of the 9th and 11th Indian Divisions and so no bids were offered other than mine. There was an advance bid on the British 18th Division patches but by being up at 4am when the auction closed, I was able to place the final winning bid.

I was overjoyed at obtaining these patches as they are extremely rare since most of the men in those units removed the patches from their uniforms when they were captured after the fall of Singapore so they would not be recognized by the Japanese as coming from the units that had killed so many of their men as they fought their way down the Malaya Peninsula.

The 9th and 11th Indian Divisions were sent to Malaya in the fall of 1941 to defend against the possible threat of an attack by the Japanese. The 9th Indian Division was the first unit in the Pacific War to face the Japanese when they attacked Khota-Bahru on the morning of December 8th – one hour before the attack on Pearl harbour. The division battled the Japs all the way down the east side of the Malay Peninsula before crossing over to Singapore.

The 11th Indian Division was stationed in the north of Malaya on the western side and met the Japs when they first attacked at Jitra. They fought fiercely taking a great toll on the Japanese during the battle.

Many of the men who were later interned in the Taiwan POW camps – the 5th, 88th, 137th, and 155th Field Reg’ts. R.A., and the 80th and 85th Anti-tank Reg’ts., as well as the Royal Signals and Royal Engineers, were included in these famous divisions.

We are so pleased to have their unit patches in our collection to further ensure that the men who served in them will “never be forgotten”!