Vol 8, Number 1
Spring-Summer 2007

LIST OF TAIWAN POW CAMPS
. . . all found !

 1. KINKASEKI #1 (Chinguashi)
 2. TAICHU #2 (Taichung)
 3. HEITO #3 (PingTung)
 4. SHIRAKAWA #4 (Chiayi)
 5. TAIHOKU #5 MOSAK (Taipei)
 6. TAIHOKU #6 (Taipei)
 7. KARENKO (Hualien)
 8. TAMAZATO (Yuli)
 9. KUKUTSU (Taipei)
10. OKA (Taipei)
11. TOROKU - (Touliu)
12. INRIN - (Yuanlin)
13. INRIN TEMP. (Yuanlin)
14. TAKAO (Kaohsiung)
15. CHURON (Taipei)


FROM THE DIRECTOR. . .

    As you will see from the contents of this newsletter, it has been another very busy year so far. We have had a large number of overseas visitors this year, as well as local groups and individuals taking tours of the camps.

     I have been travelling much more this year too – to Japan, Northeast China and the USA and Canada, exploring WWII campsites, meeting with former POWs and veterans and holding memorial services to remember the men. I have had some wonderful and memorable experiences, as you will see from the reports on the following pages.

     As well as the routine daily work of answering inquiries on the POWs and the camps, working on the archives and constantly updating the POW Honour Roll on our website, we have also been busy with several new projects that have come up.

     We are currently doing more research on the Karenko Camp at Hualien and looking at possibly erecting a memorial there. We are working to place a plaque on the old Taipei Prison Wall to commemorate the 14 American flyers executed there in June 1945, and also pursuing possible memorials for Toroku and Taihoku Camp # 6.

    We are looking forward to our  Remembrance Week event in November. We already have fifteen overseas guests coming and we hope more POWs and family members will avail themselves of the opportunity to attend this year’s event. 

     There is still so much that needs to be done however, and I want to thank all of those who continue to give us help, encouragement and support. Thanks to those who continue to send us information, photos and other items to help tell more of the Taiwan POWs’ story .It is because of this that we will accomplish our goals to make sure that the men who suffered as POWs are “never forgotten”.
 

TAIWAN POW CAMPS DRAWING MANY VISITORS. . .

The first few months of this year have seen a large number of visitors coming to Taiwan to learn more about the story of the Taiwan POW camps and to remember and pay tribute to the POWs - most often family members, interned in them.

Most visitors pay a visit to the infamous Kinkaseki POW Camp at Chinguashi - about 30 miles from Taipei, as it is fairly accessible, but Society Director Michael Hurst also takes some to other parts of the island as well.

Some of the overseas visitors this year have included Ms. Anneriet de Pijper and Jose Adriaansen – two Dutch ladies who had been former civilian internees of the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies in WWII, Ms. Tang Xiaohui Deputy Curator and Ms. Duan Xiaowei Manager of Acquisitions for the ‘Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in WWII’ in Beijing, noted British historian and professor Michael Hoare, and Shane Boyd and Nick Dodich, nephews of former Taiwan POW Capt. Clyde V. Kern US Army Medical Corps who came to Taiwan in the fall of 1944 on the hellship Hokusen Maru and was held in camps at Shirakawa, Kinkaseki and Kukutsu.

Nick Dodich(l) and Shane Boyd (r)
remember their uncle at Kukutsu

Shane and Nick were on a real quest to find out more information about their uncle who survived the war but passed away many years ago without talking much about it.

They visited the sites of the Shirakawa, Kinkaseki and Kukutsu POW Camps, as well as Keelung Harbour where Capt. Kern was evacuated at the end of the war. A short memorial service was held at each place, and the men learned much more about their uncle than what they previously knew.


In addition to the overseas guests, the Society runs local tours to Chinguashi and other camps as required. In the past students from the International School and the Taipei Intl. Women’s Study Group have visited Kinkaseki, and this spring a group of staff from the American Institute in Taiwan, the Taiwan Dutch Association and a number of individuals, visited the camp and memorial park.

In May members of the Taiwan Dutch
Community visited the Kinkaseki Camp and
held a memorial service.
While the visitors are learning more about the Taiwan POWs’ story, the Society can also learn from their experiences and gain new information and insights as well. We welcome all visitors. Please contact us well in advance if you are coming so we will have time to schedule and prepare for your visit.
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10
Newsletters Home
© COPYRIGHT . . .
All material, including maps, photographs, drawings etc. on this site, is the copyright of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society and/or those people or organizations who have contributed such material.
We are happy for material on the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society site to be used for schools or research purposes, provided reference is made to its source and/or the owner. No material may be used on another website or reproduced in any manner by any other means or method without permission from the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society.