| HELP WANTED. . .
FROM MRS. MARJORIE GARNER, Cambridge
Mrs. Garner has asked us for
help in trying to find out in which camp her first husband
- Driver Ernest Parker, 2587178, Royal Corps of Signals -
was held while a POW on Taiwan. They were married shortly
before he left for the Far East and although she wrote many
letters letters to him, never did receive a reply. It was
only after the war she learned that he had died as a POW on
Taiwan on 26 September 1944 - aged 24 years. He was a Territorial
and could likely have been in the 9th or 11th Indian Division
Signals in Malaya and Singapore.
Mrs. Garner and her daughter travelled to Taiwan this past
November with the RBL Tour to take part in our Remembrance
activities. We have promised to try to do all we can to help
her, but so far no leads have turned up. If there is anyone
who may have known Driver Parker or may have been in the same
unit with him, please contact us as soon as possible and we
will put you in touch with Mrs. Garner.
SEARCHING.
. .
I have recently been told of a book called “Captive in
Formosa” written by a former Taiwan POW, Mr. Norman Cliff.
The book was first published in 1994 and I am trying to locate
the author, Mr. Cliff, or as second best - a copy of the book.
I have contacted the publisher in the UK but they cannot help
with either info on Mr. Cliff or a copy of the book.
If anyone can put me in touch with Mr. Cliff or advise where
I might get a copy of his book, I would be very grateful.
I am also looking to obtain a copy of the book by George
D’Arcy entitled “Reveille to Sunset in the Yellow
Hell”. I had a lead on one through the internet but the
distributor has not been able to come through with it yet
and several months have gone by. If anyone can help please
get in touch by email.
- Ed.
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BRAVE MEN
No honours were they given,
No glory did they find.
Though cruelty abounded
No heads were bent in shame.
Their bravery was unheralded,
Comradeship and loyalty never waned.
I am proud to say I knew them -
These men who were so brave.
by Jill Horn, Nov. 2000 - for her father,
L/Sgt. Ray Goodman, 155th Field Reg’t. R.A.
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--- from the Director
What a wonderful time we have had
these past several months here in Taiwan. First, there was the very
successful Week of Remembrance this past November, along with the
dedication of the POW memorial on the site of the former Taichu
Camp, and then the discovery of the Takao camp in January of this
year.
Current projects underway are the
application to erect another POW memorial at the site of the former
Heito Camp, and also the continued search for the two Inrin Camps
in Central Taiwan and the Oka camp near Taipei.
We have heard from several more FEPOWs,
and more Americans as well, including a former crewman from the
USS Santee - the ship which helped rescue the POWs from Taiwan after
the war. With each of these new contacts more information is being
learned and the story of the Taiwan POW camps is coming together
more and more.
It has also been wonderful over the
past few months to be able to help FEPOWs and their families find
the answers to questions about their mates or a former loved one.
This is now a big part of our work.
In closing this issue I would like
to draw your attention to the following article. In a nutshell it
sums up why we do what we do so that the memory of these great men
will “never be forgotten”.
Let Us Never Forget !
What it Meant to be a
FEPOW. . .
25% of FEPOWs captured by the
Japanese were killed or died in captivity, compared with 5%
of those captured by the Germans and Italians.
FEPOW deaths as a precentage were
the highest rate of all the World War II battle fronts involving
British troops.
FEPOWs suffered trauma 24 hours
a day, with the constant threat of death, disease, beatings,
torture, starvation, seeing their comrades dying around them,
burying them and even being forced to dig their own graves.
It is doubtful that any other group of our citizens in this
century has suffered such appalling trauma.
There was no “post traumatic
syndrome” counsel when the FEPOWs returned - they were
simply sent home after 3 1/2 years of horror and told to get
on on with their lives. It is to their credit and the benefit
of later generations that they did just that.
Surely it is time to recognize
their suffering and the tremendous contribution they have made
to peace and to our life in the 20th century.
Adapted from the Halifax Dist. FEPOW Beacon
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