The “REAL” Yasukuni Shrine

Extreme Right-Wing soldiers parade at the shrine

In WWII uniform, an old soldier still proudly brags of his exploits and experiences during the war.

A radical Right-Wing Group displays propaganda and posters that deny the “Rape of Nanking”

This is what the “real” Yasukuni Shrine stands for in modern Japan today – a denial of Japan’s wartime atrocities and the resurgence of its militaristic past. Japan MUST acknowledge its past - and apologize, if it is to ever take its place again as a trusted and valued member of the world community!

40 Year Old POW Mystery is Finally Solved. . .

Back in the summer of 1999 we received an email from Mr. Russell Brooke of Atlanta Georgia, USA. He was looking for information on Pvt. Harry R. Browning, of the US Army Medical Corps who had been a POW on Taiwan.
The reason? About 30 years previously in 1967 he had found an old canteen in the Georgia mountains that Browning (photo below) had used during WW2, and etched on the side of the canteen were the names of the various POW camps where he had been interned. Russell wanted to find him or his family and return it, so we posted a notice in our Fall 1999 Newsletter to see if anyone could help.
Russell told us, “Until your web site and memorial, I did not know how to look for H.R. Browning on Formosa. I hope that we can find him or at least what happened to him”

Years have gone by and Mr. Brooke and I have continued to correspond, and from the research that we have done thus far - and with help from some other American ex-POWs, we have been able to piece together more of the story of Pvt. Browning.
Harry R. Browning, a young Arkansas lad was captured at the fall of Corregidor in May 1942 and was later interned as a POW at Cabanatuan and Bilibid in the Philippines. Then he was moved to Taiwan with the second group of Americans to arrive under Major Gen. Sharp and sent to Karenko Camp. Later he moved to Shirakawa Camp and from there accompanied the senior officers to Mukden, North China, where he was liberated at the end of the war. We never heard anything more from anyone after that.

Then on February 23rd of this year I got a real shock when I received an email from Mrs. Marion BROWNING-Griffin – the daughter of Pvt. Harry R. Browning! After eight long years she had finally come across our website and through reading the newsletters found the story about her father’s canteen. I put her in touch with Russell, they have already met and on Easter Sunday he was at last able to return the canteen to the Browning family - after 40 years!

What an incredible story this has turned out to be, and to have had a part in it is such an honour and privilege for us. Marion has written, “Your work is a wonderful tribute to all of our beloved soldiers, and I appreciate your dedication. Thank you so much for hooking me up with Russell and thank you so much for the work you do.”
We are always happy to be able to do this kind of thing for the POWs and their families and we welcome enquiries and always try to help when we are able.

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