TAICHU - CAMP # 2

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THE HISTORY OF TAICHU POW CAMP

The Taichu POW Camp was constructed in the summer of 1942, following the surrender of the British forces in Singapore and the American forces in the Philippines.
The first POWs to occupy the camp were Americans who were moved north from the Philippines following the collapse of the forces on Bataan and Corregidor. Not much is known about this group of POWs who came into the camp in early September through the port at Takao and only stayed about two months. We do know that there were around 200 men in the camp and that a list was made, which was reportedly seen by British POWs who came in later. The list also recorded the deaths of several of the men. This list disappeared and no-one has ever seen it since.

On November 12, 1942 the American POWs were loaded on trains and sent back to Takao where they boarded a ship called the Dai Nichi Maru which had just docked with a load of British POWs from Singapore. Surviving British POWs reported that as they came off the hellship, the Americans began boarding. It is known that this group of American POWs were transported to Japan where they worked in various locations in a variety of tasks.

Once off the Dai Nichi Maru, the British POWs boarded trains for the journey to the camp which lies roughly in the center of the island of Taiwan. The journey took them all night to reach Taichu and early the next morning they were taken out to the site of the camp. There were approximately 500 POWs in this group.

The main work to which the POWs were assigned at Taichu Camp was the excavation of a huge diversion channel in the river which ran adjacent to the camp. Each year when the monsoon rains and the typhoons flooded the river valley, the main road and rail bridges across the river were in danger of being washed away and the authorities felt that if a channel was dug to divert the flow of the floodwaters away from the bridges they could be saved from ultimate destruction.
The POWs were put to work excavating the bed of the river - removing huge boulders and digging out a channel in the massive river bed. The work was hard - all done by hand with picks and shovels and the excavated rocks and dirt had to be carried out by hand in baskets or "stretchers" made by the POWs themselves. It was back-breaking work in the hot sun and the POWs had only two or three breaks all day. They had quotas that they had to accomplish each day and they were constantly beaten if caught resting or if the quota was not met.

Many of the POWs became ill through fatigue, disease and hunger, and several died during the course of their imprisonment there. The camp cemetery was located east of the camp and one or two of the POWs remember being on a burial party - carrying their mates to their final resting place.

As a rule there was no point in the prisoners trying to escape from the camps. Where could a white man go in a land where all the people were oriental - they would be spotted right away and there was certainly no escape from this island prison.
However there was one escape attempt - and one only - and that took place in the Taichu Camp. Two men - one an American sailor (perhaps left behind due to illness when the rest of the Americans left the camp), and a POW named Johnson from the Manchester Regiment, decided that they were going to try to make a break for it and one night slipped out of the camp. They were gone for only a couple of days when they were caught and brought back again. They were beaten and interrogated and then the next day they were brought out for the rest of the POWs who were on parade to see. One of the surviving POWs has remarked that they knew the British lad and that both of them were so badly beaten that were unrecognizable. The two were stood before the rest of the group with the warning given that this is what would happen to any others who tried to escape. The assembly was told "have a good look at your mates, because this is the last time you will see them". The two men were taken out of the camp and executed and their clothes were brought back into the camp the next day. It is rumoured that the men were forced to dig their own graves before being either shot or decapitated.

In August and November 1943 two groups of men were moved out of Taichu Camp and sent to the coppermine camp at Kinkaseki in the north of Taiwan. There were also a few men moved up from the camp at Heito in the south, but the work force at Taichu was much depleted after November 1943.

The work and the suffering carried on at Taichu until the late spring of 1944, when just as the project was about completed, a huge tropical storm ravaged the island for several days. As a result the river flooded its basin and the bridges were completely destroyed. The POWs rejoiced that nature had been their ally and had deprived the Japs of their precious bridges in the end.

After the flooding of the river and parts of the camp, Taichu Camp was closed. The men were housed in schools near the city of Taichu for a short period of time and then were re-assigned to other camps. Many were sent down to Heito Camp in the south of Taiwan and about 100 were used to start a new camp called the INRIN Camp which was located in a school in a nearby town about 20 miles from Taichu.

DISCOVERING AND REMEMBERING THE SITE OF THE TAICHU POW CAMP

DISCOVERING TAICHU CAMP | TAICHU POW MEMORIAL | TOP

The site of the Taichu POW Camp was located in late October 1998, when Michael and Tina Hurst made a trip to the countryside south of Taichung City in search of the camp. After completing a lot of research - and just two weeks before the annual Remembrance Week activity in 1998, they were finally able to locate the camp. Since three of the five former POWs who came to Taiwan that year had spent time in the Taichu Camp, they wanted to try to locate this camp in advance of their coming so they could be taken to see the location of their earlier internment. After much driving around, and talking with several of the local area residents, positive identification was made. This was later verified when the POWs saw it for themselves. Sid Dodds, Ben Slack and Maurice Rooney were delighted to be able to stand on the bank of the river where they had laboured more than 50 years before, and the memories and friendships from that former time came flooding back.
During the next two years, Michael and other members of the TPCMS made several visits to the former campsite. On once such visit in the fall of 1999, a group from the TPCMS asked for permission to erect a memorial at the former camp, and finally, after almost a year of negotiations and suspenseful waiting, permission was granted by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the ROC government.
In early September a piece of beautiful green Taiwan marble was procured and taken to the engravers for carving. After this was finished, a team from the TPCMS took the stone down to the site of the former camp and installed it in a garden which is located along what was formerly the back wall of the camp. The location is adjacent to where the former prisoners' huts were located, and near the little stream that flowed just outside the wall. The stream is still there but has since been shored up with concrete to form an irrigation canal. Flowers have been planted around the memorial stone as a further tribute.
In November 2000, when the FEPOWs returned to Taiwan for the annual Remembrance Week, a service of dedication was held on the site of the old Taichu Camp. Present at the ceremony were Sid Dodds - who was instrumental in helping us find the camp through his recollections and drawings of the surrounding area, Ben Slack - who spent almost thirty days in solitary confinement in this camp, and might have died if his mates hadn't saved enough of their food for him, and Jack Fowler who also toiled there and helped to save many of the men who had come down with malaria. Jack and Ben were sent to Kinkaseki in August 1943, while Sid went later in November of that same year.

TPCMS DEDICATES TAICHU POW MEMORIAL

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On Monday, November 20, 2000 with the three former POWs of the Taichu Camp present - the POW Memorial was dedicated. Sid Dodds, Jack Fowler and Ben Slack all took part in the ceremony, which featured comments from TPCMS Director Michael Hurst, and the Director of Administration for the British Trade and Cultural Office in Taipei, Mr. Dominic McAllister.
Ex-POWs Harold Brant, Jack Edwards, Ray Goodman, Harry Leslie, Bill Notley, George Reynolds, Ron Venton and Stan Vickerstaff who were not in the Taichu Camp, joined their mates in remembering their former comrades. Several wives and sons and daughters of the FEPOWs were also present, along with members of the TPCMS and dignitaries from the Taiwan government and the Water Conservation Agency that administers the site of the former camp.
After a prayer of dedication by Keiko Holmes, poppy wreaths were laid in honour of those who did not return and for those who still survive. To date we have located 26 survivors of the former Taichu POW Camp and all have been sent a letter notifying them of the building and dedication of the memorial, along with a photo of the Taichu POW Memorial stone, so that they will know that they and their mates have not, and will not ever be forgotten. We want to thank Mr. Chang and the government authorities for their kindness and generous assistance in helping to make this memorial for the men of Taichu a reality at last.

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