The archives

THE TAIHOKU CAMP 6 PRISONER OF WAR MEMORIAL DEDICATION CEREMONY

On Friday November 11th 2011 - exactly 69 years after the first POWs arrived at Taihoku Camp # 6 from Singapore on the hellship England Maru, a memorial was dedicated  to the men of No. 6 Camp by the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society and the ROC Ministry of National Defense. Taihoku Camp 6 was the main POW camp in the capital area, and one of the principal camps in Taiwan, and the Society is very thankful to the Ministry and Minister Kao, Hua-Chu for their help in getting this long overdue memorial erected.

Despite...

A MAN SENT FROM GOD

This is the story of a true hero of World War II - the Canadian doctor - Major Ben Wheeler, who gave himself to help his fellow prisoners of war in the infamous "Kinkaseki " Japanese POW camp on the island of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa). It was the re-discovery of the former camp, and this story of Dr. Wheeler and his courage, that started the movement in early 1997 to remember the men of Kinkaseki and the other POW camps on Taiwan. From that humble beginning, the Kinkaseki / Taiwan POW Memorial was built...

TRIP TO KINKASEKI - TAIWAN - NOVEMBER 2009

by Peter Bowkett IN MEMORY OF HAROLD VINCENT BOWKETT

I suspect the earliest part of planning for this trip actually must have started when I was a young boy - seven or eight years of age - at home in Clydach as I recall one day asking Dad why he had scars on his back and he told me that they were from working in the copper mine whilst he was at a Japanese Prisoner of War camp in Kinkaseki - Formosa (now Taiwan).

Growing up I became more and more aware of the fact...

THE KINKASEKI COPPER MINE

Taken from an Allied intelligence report on POW Camps and conditions on Formosa compiled in October 1945.

The Kinkaseki Copper Mine had the largest output of copper in the Japanese Empire. It was a commercial enterprise, although run along military lines -with the foremen and staff wearing insignia denoting seniority or rank. The main mine head was situated one mile from the Kinkaseki Prisoner-of-War Camp.

Although mining conditions universally are severe, it is to be emphasized that few can equal the hazards of this mine. There was no lighting in the mine -the prisoners...

ENOURA MARU MEMORIAL SERVICE - JANUARY 9, 2005

January 9, 1945 – was the date of the bombing of the hellship Enoura Maru at Takao Harbour, Formosa, with the loss of more than 300 American POW lives. On January 9th 2005 – the 60th Anniversary of that tragic event, the Society held a special memorial service to remember the Enoura Maru and the men who suffered and died that day. The ceremony was held in conjunction with the City of Kaohsiung Cultural Affairs Bureau at a pier at Kaohsiung Harbour. Following the service on the pier, wreaths were laid on the water over the...

THE STORY OF THE BOMBING OF THE ENOURA MARU

Address given at the Memorial Service for the men who suffered and died on the hellship Enoura Maru at KaohsiungTaiwan - January 9, 1945

by Michael Hurst MBE, Director, Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society

Thank you all for coming here today to join with the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society in this important service of remembrance. I would like to pay tribute to the more than 300 brave men who died - right here in this harbor, 60 years ago today - on January 9 th 1945, by telling you a little of the story...

TOROKU POW CAMP MEMORIAL DEDICATED

After five years in the works, a memorial to honour the American and British POWs who were held in the Toroku POW Camp from November 1944 to April 1945 was dedicated on Saturday June 6, 2009. The memorial is located inside the grounds of Gou-Ba Elementary School in the village of Gou-Ba - a suburb of Douliou City in South-Central Taiwan.

Until 2003, two of the former old Japanese school buildings which the POWs inhabited still stood on the grounds – they were the last remaining POW buildings in Taiwan.

With the completion of this...